Sandra Clark - Shakespeare and Domestic Life: A Dictionary

ARDEN SHAKESPEARE DICTIONARY SERIES

SERIES EDITOR

Sandra Clark (Birkbeck College, University of London)

Class and Society in Shakespeare Paul Innes

Military Language in Shakespeare Charles Edelman

Shakespeares Books Stuart Gillespie

Shakespeares Demonology Marion Gibson

Shakespeares Insults Nathalie Vienne-Guerrin

Shakespeare and the Language of Food Joan Fitzpatrick

Shakespeares Legal Language B. J. Sokol and Mary Sokol

Shakespeares Medical Language Sujata Iyengar

Shakespeares Musical Language Christopher R. Wilson

Shakespeare and National Identity Christopher Ivic

Shakespeares Non-Standard English N. F. Blake

Shakespeares Political and Economic Language Vivian Thomas

Shakespeares Theatre Hugh Macrae Richmond

Shakespeare and Visual Culture Armelle Sabatier

Women in Shakespeare Alison Findlay

FORTHCOMING:

Shakespeare and Animals Karen Raber

Shakespeare and London Sarah Dustagheer

The Crimson Bedroom at Montacute House, Somerset

A Puritan family from Tenor of the Whole Psalms in Four Parts, 1563

Woodcut from the ballad The Godly Maid of Leicester, Broadside Ballads, 4 Rawl. 566, fol. 161r

Portrait of Elizabeth Vernon, Countess of Southampton, by an unknown English artist, c. 1598

Frontispiece from Thomas Dawson, The Good Husewifes Jewell, 1610

As Series Editor, I suppose I should have known more than most about what is needed to produce an Arden Shakespeare Dictionary. In the event, I was really glad to have the views of others about my work. I am particularly grateful to Viv Thomas, who gave generously of his time and experience in reading a high proportion of the entries, and as a result they were much improved. John Fullman and Boika Sokolova were also kind enough to read and comment on parts of the text, almost always to good effect. The anonymous reader from Bloomsbury was exactly what I wanted, encouraging in his/her comments, but also quick to see what could be made better. At Bloomsbury, Margaret Bartley has been supportive throughout, and in the later stages Susan Furber has helped with the illustrations. My husband, Mike Holmes, supplied domesticity in a practical form while I attended to this project.

The Arden Shakespeare Dictionaries aim to provide the student of Shakespeare with a series of authoritative guides to the principal subject areas covered by the plays and poems. They are produced by scholars who are experts both on Shakespeare and on the topic of the individual dictionary, based on the most recent scholarship, succinctly written and accessibly presented. They offer readers a self-contained body of information on the topic under discussion, its occurrence and significance in Shakespeares works, and its contemporary meanings.

The topics are all vital ones for understanding the plays and poems; they have been selected for their importance in illuminating aspects of Shakespeares writings where an informed understanding of the range of Shakespeares usage, and of the contemporary literary, historical and cultural issues involved, will add to the readers appreciation of his work. Because of the diversity of the topics covered in the series, individual dictionaries may vary in emphasis and approach, but the aim and basic format of the entries remain the same from volume to volume.

Sandra Clark

Birkbeck College

University of London

age

aglet

ague

ale, alehouse, alewife

amber

angel

apprentice (see prentice)

apron, apron man

aqua-vitae