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Tag: Shakespeare

‘for show and not for blow’ | ‘one for show and one for blow’

27th Dec 2020.Reading time 8 minutes.

19th century—refer to two handkerchiefs, one used as a clothing accessory, the other for blowing the nose—hence, figuratively ‘for display rather than for use’ and ‘one for display and one for use’

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‘Richard’s himself again’: meaning and origin

25th May 2020.Reading time 8 minutes.

indicates that a person has returned to normal after an illness or similar episode—from The Tragical History of King Richard III (1700), an adaptation of Shakespeare’s Richard III by Colley Cibber

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‘why is a mouse when it spins? because the higher the fewer’

20th Apr 2020.Reading time 24 minutes.

nonsensical question and answer—UK 1892—USA 1893—the question has been used to treat someone or something as unworthy of serious consideration

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the theatrical phrase ‘eternity version’

20th Mar 2020.Reading time 7 minutes.

jocularly denotes a performance of Shakespeare’s Hamlet in its entirety—UK, 1946—all occurrences from articles by theatre critic J. C. Trewin (1908-1990)

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‘lay on, Macduff’ | ‘lead on, Macduff’

24th Feb 2020.Reading time 8 minutes.

from Shakespeare’s ‘Macbeth’—1814 ‘lay on, Macduff’: go ahead (and give it your best try)—1855 misquotation ‘lead on, Macduff’: let’s get going, start us off

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meaning and origin of the phrase ‘to come to Hecuba’

20th Nov 2019.Reading time 9 minutes.

to come to the point—in Shakespeare’s ‘Hamlet’, the title role urges an actor to go straight to Hecuba’s reaction to her husband’s killing

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‘how different is the home life of our own dear Queen’

19th Oct 2019.Reading time 14 minutes.

a break with traditional values—at a performance of Anthony and Cleopatra, a Victorian lady allegedly contrasted Queen Victoria’s homelife to Cleopatra’s

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the origin and various meanings of ‘Macready pause’

29th Sep 2019.Reading time 14 minutes.

UK, 1842—theatre: a long pause during the delivery of a speech—refers to the English actor William Macready (1793-1873), who was given to making long pauses

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meanings of the Irish-English phrase ‘like snuff at a wake’

26th Sep 2019.Reading time 15 minutes.

1844—various senses, especially ‘hither and thither’ and ‘lavishly’—from the custom of sharing snuff during a vigil held beside the body of someone who has died

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meanings and origin of ‘bell, book, and candle’

6th Sep 2019.Reading time 18 minutes.

14th century—a form of excommunication from the Catholic Church—by extension any process of condemnation carried out thoroughly

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