Shakespeare

English

William Shakespeare

Alternative forms

• Shakespere, Shakspeare, Shakspere (obsolete)

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈʃeɪkspɪɹ/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈʃeɪkspɪə/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: Shake‧speare

Proper noun

Shakespeare (plural Shakespeares)

2. A surname.
   • 1913, Katharine Lee Bates, Lilla Weed, compilers, Shakespeare: Selective Bibliography and Biographical Notes, [Wellesley, Mass.]: Wellesley College, page 33:

     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.

4. William Shakespeare, an English playwright and poet of the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries.

   Synonyms: the Bard, Shakey

6. (metonymically) His works or media adaptations of his works.

   He is reading Shakespeare.

   I'm surprised that even the allusion to Hamlet flew over his head. Even someone who barely knows Shakespeare might catch that one!

7. A place name:
   2. A village in Perth East township, Ontario, Canada, named after the playwright.
   4. A ghost town in Hidalgo County, New Mexico, United States.

Usage notes

• William Shakespeare's manuscripts use a great many different spellings of his surname, of which there are a great number to list here. At the time, name spellings were much more variable than today, see Spelling of Shakespeare's name for a list.

Derived terms

• Bacon-Shakespearean
• Shakespearean
• Shakespeareana
• Shakespeareanism
• Shakespeareanize
• Shakespeareanly
• Shakespeareanness
• Shakespearean sonnet
• Shakespearemania
• Shakespearese
• Shakespearism
• Shakespearize
• Shakespearolater
• Shakespearolatry
• Shakespearologist
• Shakespearology
• Shakey
• unShakespearean

Descendants

• → Vietnamese: Sếch-xpia

Translations

English playwright

• Arabic: شَكْسْبِير m (šaksbīr)
• Armenian: Շեքսպիր (Šekʻspir)
• Azerbaijani: Şekspir
• Bashkir: Шекспир (Şekspir)
• Belarusian: Шэкспі́р m (Šekspír), Шэксьпі́р m (Šeksʹpír) (taraškievica)
• Bengali: শেক্সপীয়ার (śekśopiẏar)
• Bulgarian: Ше́кспир m (Šékspir)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 莎士比亞 / 莎士比亚 (zh) (Shāshìbǐyà), 莎翁 (zh) (Shāwēng)

• Danish: Shakespeare
• Esperanto: Ŝekspiro
• Finnish: Shakespeare
• French: Shakespeare (fr) m
• Georgian: შექსპირი (šeksṗiri)
• Greek: Σαίξπηρ (el) m (Saíxpir), Σαιξπήρος (el) m (Saixpíros)
• Hebrew: שייקספיר m (sheykspir)
• Hindi: शेक्सपीयर (śeksapīyar)
• Japanese: シェイクスピア (Sheikusupia)
• Korean: 셰익스피어 (Syeikseupieo)
• Latin: Shakespeārius m
• Latvian: Šekspīrs m
• Macedonian: Ше́кспир m (Šékspir)
• Marathi: शेक्स्पीयर (śekspīyar)
• Nepali: शेक्सपियर (śeksapiyar)
• Polish: Szekspir m
• Portuguese: Shakespeare m
• Russian: Шекспи́р (ru) m (Šekspír)
• Spanish: Shakespeare (es)
• Thai: เชกสเปียร์ (châyk-sà-bpia)
• Turkish: Shakespeare, Şekspir
• Ukrainian: Шекспі́р m (Šekspír)
• Vietnamese: Sếch-xpia
• Yiddish: שייקספּיר m (sheykspir)

Noun

Shakespeare (countable and uncountable, plural Shakespeares)

1. (uncountable) Any form or style of language that is eloquent, especially in English; poetry.
   • 1979 October 10, Russell Maker, “Highbrows Ruin Baseball's Language”, in Toledo Blade:

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

2. (countable) A playwright of the standing of William Shakespeare.
   • 1997, Vivien Allen, Hall Caine: portrait of a Victorian romancer:

     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

Shakespeare (third-person singular simple present Shakespeares, present participle Shakespearing, simple past and past participle Shakespeared)

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

See also

• Category:English terms first attested in Shakespeare

Portuguese

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈʃejks.peʁ/ [ˈʃeɪ̯ks.peh]

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈʃejks.peʁ/ [ˈʃeɪ̯ks.peh]
  • (São Paulo) IPA^(key): /ˈʃejks.peɾ/ [ˈʃeɪ̯ks.peɾ]
  • (Rio de Janeiro) IPA^(key): /ˈʃejkʃ.peʁ/ [ˈʃeɪ̯kʃ.peχ]
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈʃejks.peɻ/ [ˈʃeɪ̯ks.peɻ]

Proper noun

Shakespeare m

1. Shakespeare (William Shakespeare, English playwright)

Derived terms

• shakespeariano