Hamlet

234 keen quick/cutting

235 groaning the moans of a woman losing her virginity (or possibly subsequently, in labor) 235 take ... edge deter my sharp wit/blunt my sexual appetite/cause me to lose my erection 236 better, and worse i.e. wittier, yet more insulting

237 So in just such a manner

237 mis-take your husbands swear insincerely to love and be faithful to your husbands (according to the marriage vow "for better or for worse"); plays on the idea of "mistaking" another man for one's true husband, as Hamlet deems Gertrude to have done 238 pox i.e. a plague on it

239 the ... revenge refers to lines from the anonymous True Tragedy of Richard III

239 raven considered a bird of ill omen whose cry heralded death 242 Confederate ... seeing the occasion itself an ally, there being no one else to see me 243 rank virulent/pungent/foul

244 Hecate's ban the curse of Hecate, goddess of witchcraft

245 dire property dreadful nature

246 wholesome healthy

247 for's for his

247 His i.e. the king's

252 false fire the discharge of blank cartridges from a firearm 257 strucken wounded

258 hart ungalled uninjured male deer

259 watch remain awake

261 this the play/the verse just uttered

261 feathers i.e. elaborate plumes on a hat

262 turn Turk with abandon (like one renouncing Christianity to become a Muslim) 262 Provincial roses French roses from Provence (here rosettes, worn to hide the shoe fastenings and, like the feathers, a feature of the actor's garb) 263 razed shoes shoes with ornamental cuts in the leather

263 fellowship ... cry partnership in a pack

265 share the major players in the Chamberlain's Men had shares in the company's assets 267 Damon either an allusion to the Greek tale of Damon and Pythias, famous for their great friendship, or used as a traditional pastoral name 268 dismantled stripped/deprived

269 Jove supreme Roman god

270 pajock either "patchock" (i.e. base, ragged fellow) or "peacock"

271 rhymed the word that might be expected to rhyme with was is "ass"

279 perdy corruption of the French par dieu ("by God") 281 vouchsafe permit

285 retirement withdrawal to his rooms

285 distempered out of humor (Hamlet chooses to understand the sense of "drunk") 287 choler anger (provoked by an excess of bile, one of the four bodily humours) 289 signify communicate

290 purgation cleansing the body through bloodletting or the use of emetics or laxatives (Hamlet plays on the idea of eliciting confession; the senses of legal and spiritual purging are also relevant) 292 frame order

292 start swerve/recoil

298 breed kind/courtly breeding

298 wholesome healthy, sane

300 pardon permission (to leave)