Vocabulary Mnemonics

October 26, 2024

Matt’s words

Futurity (n): the future time

Offense be of such moretal kind that nor my service past, nor present sorrows, nor purpos’d merit in futurity can ransom me into his love again.

Mnemonic: It’s in the word “future.”

Besmirch (v): damage the reputation of

Perhaps he loves you now, and now no soil nor cautel doth besmirch the virtue of his will.”

Mnemonic: Think of an evil smirk. Besmirch smirk.

Enmesh (v): cause to become entangled

So will I turn her virtue into pitch, and out of her own goodness make the net that shall enmesh them all.

Mnemonic: Think of a wire mesh. You don’t want to get entangled in it.

Foppish (adj): concerned with appearance/fashion; vain

His foppish suits became his trademark

Mnemonic: Think of a fashion flop. A “fop flop.”

Inhearse: to put in a hearse

You… did my ripe thoughts in my brain inhearse.

Mnemonic: Think of putting someone in a hearse.

Dr. Mom’s words

Hiems (n): the personification of winter

From Love’s Labour’s Lost: “This side is Hiems, Winter, this Ver, the Spring: the one maintained by the owl, the other by the cuckoo. Ver, begin.”

Mnemonic: The “high” at the beginning can make us think of the high country, where winter is definitely noticed and prominent.

Caper (v or n): to dance with joy, to leap with delight (as a noun, you might “cut a caper”)

From Twelfth Night: “No sir, it is legs and thighs. Let me see thee caper. Ha! Higher! Ha! Ha! Excellent!”

Mnemonic: Picture yourself wearing a cape, then dancing or twirling around to make it unfurl. You could also think of scamper, which sounds a little similar. You run around with quick, light steps, like dancing.

Foison (n): (rhymes with poison) abundance, plenty, resources; physical strength

From The Tempest: “All things in common nature should produce without sweat or endeavour…nature should bring forth, of its own kind, all foison, all abundance…”

From Macbeth, Macduff tells Malcolm that “Scotland hath foisons to fill up your will.” In other words, there is an abundance of things to satisfy your greed.

Mnemonic: Whereas poison kills or puts an end to things, foison is “f – poison,” or false poison. It indicates the opposite. Foison means the thing exists in abundance.

Contumely (n): harsh, insulting language or treatment; slurs, invective, aspersions

From Hamlet: “For who would bear the whips and scorns of time, the oppressor’s wrong, the proud man’s contumely, the pangs of despis’d love…”

Mnemonic: Con means with, and “tume” is the beginning of tumor, or swelling (from the Latin tumere, which means to be proud). So if something is spoken with contumely, it is from a haughty or proud disposition and is harsh, contrary language.

Thrasonical (adj): (pronounced with a long a) bragging or vainglorious boastfulness; Thraso was a blustering old soldier in the comedy Eunuchus, a play written by the great Roman dramatist Terence more than 2,000 years ago. Terence is generally remembered for his realistic characterizations, and in Thraso he created a swaggerer whose vainglorious boastfulness was not soon to be forgotten. Thraso’s reputation as a braggart lives on in “thrasonical,” a word that boasts a history as an English adjective for more than 450 years.

From As You Like It: “There was never anything so sudden but the fight of two rams and Caesar’s thrasonical brag of ‘I came, saw, and overcame’.” (“Veni, vidi, vici” from Episode 27)

Mnemonic: Think of “Thraso,” from the beginning of the word, a larger than life character who “chased” everyone away due to his braggadocio.

BIG sentence:

When Hiems has inhearsed us and we are contemplating enmeshing futurities, we may not feel foppish or inclined to caper; however, that is just the time to refrain from thrasonical, besmirching contumely and instead to remember the foison surrounding us.