Shakespeare

//ˈʃeɪkspɪɹ// name, noun, verb

Definitions

Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A surname.

    "The name Shakespeare occurs from the 13th century on in the records of various English counties. The first Shakespeare as yet discovered in Warwickshire is one Thomas, a felon, who fled from the law in 1359. Toward the end of the fourteenth century there were landed Shakespeares at Baddesley, and this family held its own into the sixteenth."

  2. 2
    William Shakespeare, an English playwright and poet of the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries.
  3. 3
    His works or media adaptations of his works. metonymically

    "He is reading Shakespeare."

  4. 4
    A place name:; A village in Perth East township, Ontario, Canada, named after the playwright.
  5. 5
    A place name:; A ghost town in Hidalgo County, New Mexico, United States.
Noun
  1. 1
    Any form or style of language that is eloquent, especially in English; poetry. uncountable

    "This may not be poetry, but in competition with "Ryan has good velocity and excellent location" it is pure Shakespeare."

  2. 2
    A playwright of the standing of William Shakespeare. countable

    "Caine, he said, might be a budding Shakespeare but in Shakespeare's time all it took to put on a play was a barn, a crude stage, […]"

Verb
  1. 1
    To act or perform in a play of the works of Shakespeare. intransitive

Etymology

Etymology 1

A common Middle English surname meaning spearman, corresponding to shake (“to brandish a weapon”) + spear.

Etymology 2

A common Middle English surname meaning spearman, corresponding to shake (“to brandish a weapon”) + spear.

Etymology 3

A common Middle English surname meaning spearman, corresponding to shake (“to brandish a weapon”) + spear.

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