Vocabulary in A Midsummer Night's Dream

The way or path something naturally follows; here it means the progress or running of love through life, suggesting love's journey is rarely easy or straightforward.

Having wings; here describing Cupid, the Roman god of love, who is traditionally shown as a small boy with wings, able to fly and shoot arrows that cause people to fall in love.

Depicted in paintings and art as unable to see; the phrase means Cupid is traditionally shown blindfolded because love ignores reason and physical appearance.

Used here comically and incorrectly by Bottom instead of 'moderate' or 'soften'; he means he will adjust or lower his voice, but the word actually means to make something worse.

A blundered combination of 'sucking lamb' and 'sitting dove,' two proverbial images of gentleness; Bottom muddles the two phrases together, meaning something very soft and harmless.

An archaic expression meaning 'as if it were'; used to introduce a comparison, equivalent to saying 'just as if it were' in modern English.

A low-growing wild herb with small fragrant leaves and tiny flowers, found on grassy banks; here it sets the lush, sweet-smelling scene of the fairy bower.

A wild spring flower similar to a primrose or cowslip, with clusters of drooping yellow blooms; used here to paint a picture of a richly flowered fairy resting place.

Completely covered overhead as if by a canopy or roof; here it means the bank is entirely roofed over by climbing plants growing above it.

A wild climbing plant, usually honeysuckle, that twines around trees and hedges; here it forms part of the natural canopy sheltering Titania's sleeping place.

A variety of wild rose with a strong, sweet, musky scent; here they are part of the fragrant, enchanted bank where Titania sleeps.

The sweet-briar, a wild rose with fragrant leaves and pink flowers; an old poetic name for this thorny climbing plant used to evoke the beauty of the fairy woodland.

Human beings who are subject to death, as opposed to immortal fairies or gods; Puck uses the word to set humans apart from the fairy world he belongs to.

Trickery or dishonest mischief intended to deceive or make a fool of someone; Bottom suspects his companions are playing a prank on him when they run away.

To move from a spot or budge; Bottom defiantly says he will not move from where he stands no matter what anyone does to frighten him.

An archaic expression meaning 'it seems to me' or 'I think'; a single word used in older English where modern speakers would say 'I think' or 'it seems to me'.

A bundle or truss of hay; 'bottle' here is an old word for a bundle, so Bottom — now with a donkey's head — craves a tied bunch of hay as food.

Has no equal; an archaic idiom meaning nothing else can match or compare to it, used here by Bottom to praise hay as the finest thing imaginable.

An archaic past-tense expression meaning 'it seemed to me' or 'I thought'; the old form of 'methinks' used when speaking about something that appeared to be true in the past.

A professional jester or clown, whose costume was made of patches of different coloured cloth; here it means a complete idiot or buffoon, someone who makes a fool of himself.

To attempt or presume to say something; an archaic use of 'offer' meaning to try or dare to do something, not to present a gift.

Impossible to make out clearly or tell apart; here it describes how things seen from far away lose their distinct shapes and blur together like clouds.

A person considered to be insane or mentally disturbed; in Shakespeare's time the word literally suggested the moon caused madness, and here it groups the madman with the lover and the poet as people ruled by imagination.

Entirely made up of or wholly composed of something; the phrase means that the lunatic, lover, and poet are all built entirely out of imagination, with nothing else driving them.

Actors or performers, and by extension unreal or insubstantial beings; here the word refers both to the fairy characters and to the actors playing them, suggesting they are mere illusions.

Slept lightly or dozed; Puck suggests the audience has merely been napping and dreaming, so anything that seemed strange or offensive was only part of a dream.

To make better, repair, or make up for a deficiency; here it means that the audience's own imagination can fill in the gaps and improve a poor performance.