Tagged Questions
3
votes
2answers
256 views
Meaning of “I would there were…”?
What is the meaning of "I would there were", as in this quote from Shakespeare's "A Winter's Tale"?
I would there were no age between sixteen and three-and-twenty, or
that youth would sleep out ...
5
votes
1answer
181 views
Could “old fashioned” mean “angry” or “disconsolate” in early 19th Century England?
Patrick O'Brian wrote the Aubrey/Maturin seafaring novels during the late 20th Century, but the novels read as if they were written during the early 1800s (at least as far as I can tell, which isn't ...
4
votes
1answer
212 views
Outmoded word for “next Tuesday”
I am writing an email and wanted to refer to this coming Tuesday. The phrase "Tuesday est" popped into my mind (something Miss Marple might have said) but when I googled it I could find no reference. ...
5
votes
2answers
177 views
What is the meaning of “If the way Thou choosest, Lead to pain and loss”?
What is the meaning of "If the way Thou choosest, Lead to pain and loss"? How would you put it in modern English?
It is a verse from Margaret E. Barber's song "The Path I Travel." The whole context ...
20
votes
5answers
1k views
King James Bible archaic style
I am currently reading the King James Version of the Bible and I have noticed some features that I would like to know more about.
Almost every verse of the First Book of Moses starts with “and”. ...
4
votes
6answers
3k views
What does it mean to “beat one's breast”?
I'm reading The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, and was wondering what was meant by the action of beating one's breast.
eg.
The Wedding-Guest here beat his breast,
For he heard the loud ...
3
votes
2answers
3k views
What does the term 'divers places' mean?
In the King James Bible, Matthew 24:7 states:
For nation shall rise against nation,
and kingdom against kingdom: and there
shall be famines, and pestilences, and
earthquakes, in divers ...
4
votes
4answers
2k views
“Would” with a present meaning—is this correct?
A great example I can think of:
"Please, leave! I would be alone!"
With would meaning something like, "I want to be alone." Is this correct, or not?
EDIT: To further clarify, I am not aiming ...
7
votes
4answers
3k views
What does “pray” mean in phrases like “pray proceed”?
Is this an archaic form of "please proceed"? I have never heard in in speech but sometimes it appears in novels. My version of "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" is full of it, apparently in place of ...
3
votes
2answers
1k views
Usage of “despair” in the phrase “being despaired of”
I am reading a 1892 novel, in which I see the sentence:
For months my life was despaired of, and when at last I came to myself....
Is this an old use of the word "despair"? If the word "of" is ...
