[Ads-l] Shakespeare's "waking"

Jonathan Lighter wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM
Wed Sep 14 12:19:17 UTC 2016


OED can only cite Webster 1828 for a def. of "waking" as ‘Rousing from
sleep; exciting into motion or action.'

But isn't this what Coriolanus must mean, when he celebrates war as
"spritely, waking, audible, and full of vent"?

("Full of vent" would seem to mean something like 'fig., explosive,' but
OED is not especially helpful.)

JL

-- 
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org



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