Category Archives: Word of the Day

Everyone knows that this word refers to the most insignificant piece on the chessboard, and from this, it is tempting to understand Kent’s use of the word in his pledge of loyalty to an irate King Lear in a particular … Continue reading →

Given that it’s been a while since I last wrote about Shakespeare and fire, I decided to return to the topic with this thrice-occurring word. Although we now talk about the ‘brim’ or edge of an object, the first syllable … Continue reading →

In Latin, the word ‘falx’ means sickle, the sharp but relatively small and harmless object whose name has – through vulgar Latin falcion-em, Italian falcione, Old French fauchon and Middle English fauchoun – come to mean a broad sword, often … Continue reading →

What is a nonce? The OED offers us two meanings: the first (going back to 1175 and the original Old English root of ‘anum’) appears to be something to do with the number one; the second (origin unknown but possibly … Continue reading →

This is a very old word, going back certainly to before the Norman invasion, and thus to before Christmas was celebrated in the British Isles. The word ‘wassail’ comes from an Anglo-Saxon toast, “be thou healthy (hale)”, to which the … Continue reading →

Shakespeare has five turkeys in his works, scattered across the comedies and histories. There are no turkeys in the tragedies, perhaps because it was still rather rare to kill a turkey at Christmas in Shakespeare’s time, and a turkey thus … Continue reading →

Shakespeare was, I’m sure, no grinch, but he does only mention ‘Christmas’ a mere three times, twice in the same play. That play is Love’s Labour’s Lost, and within it, Berowne is the xmas-obsessed character. Near the start of the … Continue reading →

This word only appears once in Shakespeare’s works, but, I feel, nevertheless merits attention. It makes its appearance in the enormous third scene of Richard III, when Richard (currently Duke of Glo[uce]ster) enters a verbal duel with (the former) Queen … Continue reading →

After a slight hiatus, the Word of the Day returns to its favourite, culinary, hunting grounds with a word, drawn from Spanish and Italian, which means “A piece of meat or fish scored across and grilled over coals.” As the … Continue reading →

Nowadays, we use the word qualm to mean a misgiving or pang of conscience, best seen in such phrases as “He had no qualms about taking candy from children”, and so forth. You might suspect a similar meaning in Shakespeare’s … Continue reading →