BABE - baby; a child’s rag doll
BACCARE - stand back!
BACCHUS - the god of wine and the son of Zeus and Semele
BACCHANALS - drunken dance to Bacchus
BACKWARD - what lies behind; in the past
BACK - sound all the way through; rear of an army; support, backing; to mount (invented by Shk)
BACK-FRIEND - a bailiff (usually the bailiff approached from the back to arrest the criminal); false friend
BACKWARD - the past; behind
BACKWARDLY - perversely
BACON - a man from the country
BACON-FED - country-bred (the modern form is “chaw-bacon”); also slang for “fat”
BAFFLE - to disgrace
BAG - to retreat without surrender of any goods
BAIT - to harass (ie “bear-baiting”)
BAKED-MEATS - meat-pies, pastry
BALD - naked; bare; bare-headed
BALDRICK - a belt
BALE - evil; mischief; injury
BALK (1) - to let slip; to dispute logic
BALK (2) - a little mound or heap
BALKED - heaped up
BALLOW - syn for cudgel
BALM - to anoint with oil; to sooth, heal (used 3 times in Shk)
BALMY - fragrant and soothing (invented by Shk)
BALSAM - balm
BAN - to curse
BAND - bond; obligation; agreement or promise
BANDY - to strike or throw; to fight; to beat to and fro like a tennis ball
BANE - poison; murder, destruction, cause of death of another
BANK - to coast, skirt
BARM - yeast
BARN (1) - a child
BARN (2) - to store in a barn
BARNACLE - species of goose supposed to be hatched from sea shells
BASE (1) - a boy’s game, sometimes called “prisoners’ base”
BASE (2) - reason
BASE (3) - dark-coloured; low-lying
BASE-COURT - outer court of a mansion or castle
BASES - pleated skirt of cloth, brocade, or velvet, reaching from waist to knee
BASE-VIOL - an early version of a modern cello
BASILISK - a reptile, said to kill with its breath; large cannon, made of brass
BASIMECU - negative term for a Frenchman
BASTARD (1) - sweet Spanish wine
BASTARD (2) - counterfeit; false
BATE (1) - strife
BATE (2) - a bird’s beating wings
BATE (3) - to blunt; to reduce or diminish
BAT-FOWLING - catching birds in the dark with a bright light
BATLET - a small bat, used for beating clothes
BATTLE - army
BAVIN - brushwood
BAWCOCK - a fine fellow
BAWD - procurer
BAY - deep barking; to pursue with barking
BEADSMAN - one paid to pray for others (see hermits)
BEARING-CLOTH - child’s christening robe
BEAT - to flutter; to think deeply or ponder
BEAVER - face guard of a helmet
BEDLAM - the Hospital of St Mary of Bethelem in London, used as an insane asylum
BED PRESSER - lazy person
BEEF-WITTED - thick-headed
BEETLE (1) - a kind of mallet
BEETLE (2) - overhang threateningly
BEETLE-BROWS - bushy eyebrows
BEING (1) - life, existence
BEING (2) - abode; dwelling
BELDAME - grandmother; hag
BELLONA - the goddess of war (Macbeth is “Bellona’s bridegroom”)
BE-METE - to measure
BE-MOILED - to befoul with dirt
BENDING - submissive
BENVENUTO - welcome
BESHREW - curse
BERGOMASK - a rustic dance (named after the people of Bergamo, Venice)
BESTRAUGHT - distracted
BETEEM - to grant
BETIDE - to happen
BEZONIAN - a beggar; rascal
BIDING - abiding-place
BIGGEN - a night-cap
BILBERRY - the whortleberry
BILBO - a sword Comes from the sword Bilbao, known for its amazing blade
BILBOES - shackles on an iron bar locked to the floor
BILL - a bill-hook, a weapon
BIN - been, are
BIRD-BOLT - a bolt to be shot from a crossbow at birds
BIRDING - part hawking at partridges
BIRTH-STRANGLED - killed at moment of birth
BIS COCTUS - twice cooked
BISSON - blinding
BLANK - the white mark in the middle of a target
BLENCH - to move; flinch
BLENT - blended
BLIND-WORM - small, venomous snake
BLOOD-BOLTERED - hair matted with blood
BLOOD-DRINKING - “blood-drinking sighs” - reference to the belief that every sigh causes the heart to lose a drop of blood
BLOW - to inflate
BOARD - to make advances to; accost
BOB (1) - to taunt
BOB (2) - to cheat
BOB (3) - to bang or thump
BODGE - to give way
BODKIN - dagger; long pin for the hair
BOLD - to embolden
BOLLEN - swollen
BOLTED - sifted, refined
BOLTER - a sieve
BOLTING-HUTCH - a hutch in which meal was sifted
BOMBARD - a barrel, a drunkard
BOMBAST - padding
BONA-ROBAS - a harlot
BOND - that to which one is bound
BOOK - learning; writing on a tablet
BOOT - help, use
BOOT - advantage
BOOTLESS - without advantage, useless
BOOTS - bots, a kind of worm
BORE - calibre of a gun
BOREAS - the north wind
BORES - stabs
BOSKY - covered with underwood
BOSOM - wish, heart’s desire
BOTS - worms which infest horses
BOTCHER - cobbler
BOTTLE - a bundle of hay
BOURN - a boundary
BRACE - armour for the arm, state of defence
BRACH - a hound bitch
BRAID - deceitful
BRAVE - handsome, well-dressed
BRAVE - boast
BRAVERY - finery
BRAWL - a dance
BREAST - voice (Twelfth Night, 23)
BREATHE - to exercise
BREATHING - exercising
BREECHING - liable to be whipt
BREED-BATE - a breeder of debate, a mischief-maker
BREESE - the gadfly
BREWAGE - brewed drink
BRIBE-BUCK - a stolen buck
BRING - to attend one on a journey
BRINDED - striped
BRING - to attend one on a journey
BROCK - a badger, a term of contempt
BROKE - to act as a procurer
BROKEN - having lost some teeth by age
BROKEN MUSIC - the music of stringed instruments
BROKER - a sly and crafty knave
BROTHERHOOD - trading company
BROWNIST - a follower of a sect of Puritans
BRUIT (1) - noise, report, rumour
BRUSH - rude assault
BUBUKLES - pimples
BUCK - suds or lye for washing clothes in
BUCK-BASKET - the basket in which clothes are carried to the
BUCKING - washing
BUCK-WASHING - washing in lye
BUG - a bugbear, a spectre
BULLY-ROOK - a bragging cheater
BURGONET - a kind of helmet
BURST - to break
BUSKY - bushy
BUTT-SHAFT - a light arrow for shooting at a target