“Household Words”
“Household Words”
Common and Uncommon Words Coined by Shakespeare
- nayword (“byword”)
- neglect (the noun)
- to negotiate
- never-ending [earlier than OED]
- newsmonger
- nimble-footed
- noiseless
- nonregardance (“disregard”)
- nook-shotten (“full of corners or angles”)
- to numb [earlier than OED]
- obscene (Shakespeare meant “revolting”)
- ode
- to offcap (“to doff one’s cap”)
- offenseful (“sinful”)
- Olympian (Shakespeare meant “Olympic”)
- to operate
- oppugnancy (“antagonism”)
- outbreak
- to outcrafty (“to excel in craft”: “outwit”)
- to outdare
- to outfrown
- to outgrow
- to out-Herod (“to outdo Herod in bluster”)
- to outscold
- to outsell (Shakespeare meant “to exceed in value”)
- to outstare
- to outswear
- to outsweeten (“to be sweeter than”)
- to out-talk
- to out-villain
- to outweigh
- overblown (Shakespeare meant “blown over”)
- to overbulk (“to surpass in bulk”)
- overcredulous
- overgrowth
- to overpay
- to overpower
- to overrate
- to over-red (“to redden over”)
- to overstink (“to stink more than”)
- overview (as a noun: Shakespeare meant “supervision”)
- pageantry
- to palate (Shakespeare meant “to relish”)
- pale-faced
- to pander
- passado (a kind of sword-thrust)
- paternal
- pauser (“one who hesitates”)
- pebbled (“pebbly”)
- pedant (Shakespeare was referring to a schoolmaster)
- pedantical
- pendulous (Shakespeare meant “hanging over”)
- to perplex
- perusal
- to petition
- pignut (a sort of tuber)
- pious
- please-man (“yes-man” or “parasite”)
- plumpy (“plump”)
- posture (Shakespeare seems to have meant something like “position” or “positioning”) [earlier than OED]
- pouncet-box (“small box of perfumes”)
- prayerbook [earlier than OED]
- priceless
- profitless
- Promethean
- protester (Shakespeare meant “one who affirms”)
- published (Shakespeare meant “commonly recognized”)
- puh! (an interjection signifying disgust and/or condescension)
- to puke
- puppy-dog
- pushpin (Shakespeare was referring to a children’s game)
- on purpose
- quarrelsome
- in question (as in “the___ in question”)
- radiance
- to rant
- rascally [earlier than OED]
- rawboned (“very gaunt”)
- razorable (“fit to be shaved”)
- reclusive
- refractory
- reinforcement (Shakespeare meant “renewed force”)
- reliance
- remorseless
- reprieve (the noun)
- restoration [earlier than OED]
- * restraint (as “reserve”)
- retirement
- to reverb (“to re-echo”)
- revokement (“revocation”)
- revolting (Shakespeare meant “rebellious”) [earlier than OED]
- to reword (Shakespeare meant “re-echo” and “repeat”)
- ring carrier (“go-between”)
- ring-time (“time for exchanging rings”)
- to rival (Shakespeare meant “to compete”)
- roadway
- roguery
- rose-cheeked
- rose-lipped
- rug-headed (“shock-headed”)
- rumination
- ruttish