Hamlet Act 1 Vocab

Avouch to cite as authority (verb)”Without the sensible and true avouchOf mine own eyes.” Horatio sees ghost 1st time
Martial related to or suited for war (adjective)”Thus twice before, and jump at this dead hour,With martial stalk hath he gone by our watch.” Marcellus sees ghost 2 times
Portentous eliciting amazement or wonder; shadowy or ominous (adj)”Well may it sort that this portentous figureComes armèd through our watch so like the king” Bernardo describes reason ghost is here to haunt them
Harbingers foreshadows what is to come (noun)” And even the like precurse of feared events,As harbingers preceding still the fates” Horatio suspects ghost is here to foreshadow future war
Dirge a song of grief/ mournful piece of music (noun)”With mirth in funeral and with dirge in marriage” Hamlet monologue on mother’s marriage to uncle
Impious lacking in reverence or proper respect (adj)”but to persevere in obstinate condolement is a courseOf impious stubbornness; ’tis unmanly grief” King Claudius calls Hamlet stubborn for thinking of his father
Jocund marked by or suggestive of high spirits/mirth (adj)”No jocund health that Denmark drinks to-day” King Claudius goes to drink
Circumscribed to surround by a boundary (verb/adj)”And therefore must his choice be circumscribedUnto the voice and yielding of that bodyWhereof he is the head” Laertes warns Ophelia of Hamlet’s “love”
Dalliance frivolous action or act of delay/ flirtation (noun)”Show me the steep and thorny way to heavenWhiles, like a puffed and reckless libertine,Himself the primrose path of dalliance treadsAnd recks not his own rede.” Ophelia warns Laertes to not be the one that he tells her to avoid
Precepts to take beforehand/instruct (verb)”And these few precepts in thy memoryLook thou character.” Polonius gives life advice to Laertes before he leaves.

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