75 if … Camelot i.e. if I had you at my mercy, I’d send you running home in fright; the exact nature of this reference is unclear, though, as Camelot was sometimes identified with Winchester, some suspect a jibe about a “Winchester goose” (i.e. a prostitute/venereal disease)
75 Sarum Salisbury, in Wiltshire
76 Camelot legendary city that was home to King Arthur
82 likes pleases
84 occupation habit, business
90 saucy insolent
90 constrains … nature forces the style (of speaking) away from its true purpose
93 An if
93 so so be it
93 plain honest (his excuse for his rudeness)
95 craft cunning
95 corrupter corrupt
96 ducking observants bowing attendants
97 stretch … nicely strain to perform their duties to the last detail
98 verity truth
99 th’allowance the approval
99 aspect face/planetary position (in comparing Cornwall to a powerful planet, Kent mocks a courtier’s flattery)
100 influence astrological influence
101 Phoebus the Greek and Roman sun god
101 front forehead
103 dialect usual manner of speaking
104 beguiled deceived
106 though … to’t even if I should incur your displeasure by refusing (to be a knave) when asked
110 misconstruction misinterpretation
111 compact colluding (with the king)
112 being and I being
113 deal of man great show of manliness
114 worthied him earned him honor/made him a hero
115 attempting … self-subdued attacking one who offered no resistance
116 fleshment excitement of a first success
116 dread exploit fearsome military enterprise (sarcastic)
118 None … fool there is not one of these rogues and cowards who cannot make a fool of a man like Ajax (the great Greek warrior was famously stupid; Cornwall is the subject of this dig)
120 stocks instrument of public punishment in which the offender sat with his ankles and sometimes wrists confined
121 reverent old and revered (sarcastic)
121 braggart boaster
126 bold malice impudent hostility
127 grace sovereignty
133 use treat
135 colour type
136 sister sister-in-law, i.e. Goneril
136 away here/there (Cornwall directs where the stocks are to be placed)
141 answer be responsible for
145 pleasure will
147 rubbed deflected (from bowling where the “rub” is the obstacle that disrupts the path of the ball)
148 watched gone without sleep
150 out at heels worn out (literally, coming through one’s stockings or shoes; an appropriate phrase for one whose feet are poking out of the stocks)
151 Give … morrow Good-bye
153 approve prove
153 saw saying
154 out … sun proverbial for going from good to bad; Kent means that Regan will prove worse than Goneril
156 beacon i.e. the sun
156 this under globe i.e. the earth
157 comfortable comforting, encouraging
158 Nothing … misery the miserable are almost the only people to see miracles
161 obscurèd course secret (and “disguised”) course of action/dimmed fortunes
162 From away from (i.e. in France)
162 enormous state disordered situation (or country)
163 o’erwatched worn out by lack of sleep
164 vantage advantage
166 Fortune … wheel! Fortune was traditionally depicted as a woman turning a wheel that raised humans up and cast them down
167 proclaimed publicly declared an outlaw
168 happy opportune, fortunate
171 attend my taking wait to catch me
172 am bethought have decided
174 in … man despising mankind (in particular, man’s claim to be superior to beasts)
176 elf tangle (into “elflocks” or messy knots of hair)
177 presented openly displayed
180 Bedlam the Saint Mary of Bethlehem hospital in London; a number of those who were released became beggars
181 mortifièd deadened
182 pricks spikes
183 object sight
183 low humble, lowly
184 pelting paltry, insignificant
185 bans curses
186 Turlygod unexplained; perhaps a deliberately nonsensical name
186 Poor … Tom! the sorts of cries the beggars would utter; several sixteenth-century accounts refer to beggars calling themselves “Poor Tom”
187 That’s something yet i.e. at least as Poor Tom I have some form of existence
187 Edgar … am as Edgar I do not exist/I renounce my identity as Edgar
2.2 Gentleman presumably one of Lear’s reduced retinue of knights
188 they i.e. Regan and Cornwall
196 cruel puns on “crewel” (i.e. wool used for stockings)
198 over-lusty at legs as a servant, too ready to run away (perhaps plays on the sense of “too eager for sex”)
199 nether-stocks stockings
200 place position (as Lear’s messenger)
201 To as to
203 son son-in-law
209 Juno wife of Jupiter, the supreme Roman god
212 upon respect upon consideration/against the respect due to a king and his representatives
213 Resolve make clear to, inform
213 modest moderate, reasonable
213 which way why, how
214 usage treatment
215 coming from us when you were sent by me
217 commend deliver
219 reeking steaming (with sweat)