Easy, adj. 1) not difficult: Tp. II, 1, 89. Wiv. II, 2, 196. Meas. IV, 2, 221. Ado II, 3, 271. LLL I, 2, 55. Merch. I, 1, 48. I, 2, 13. As III, 2, 245. Tw. II, 2, 30. Wint. V, 3, 93. John V, 2, 106. R2 III, 2, 191. H4A I, 3, 201. H5 V, 2, 195. H6C III, 2, 53. IV, 2, 18. R3 III, 1, 161. Cor. II, 1, 272. Tit. II, 1, 87. Hml. III, 2, 372. Oth. II, 3, 345. IV, 2, 112. Ant. III, 13, 144. “'tis e. to it,” Ant. III, 10, 32 (== not difficult to get there).
2) causing no great pain: in whose (our justice's) “--est passage look for no less than death,” Wint. III, 2, 91. “all deaths are too few, the sharpest too e.” IV, 4, 809. “they should find e. penance,” H8 I, 4, <*>7. “e. fines,” Cor. V, 6, 65. “e. ways to die,” Ant. V, 2, 359.
3) requiring no great labour or exertion, soon done: “words are e. like the wind,” Pilgr. 405. “with very e. arguments of love,” John I, 36. “the e. groans of old women,” Cor. V, 2, 45. “which an e. battery might lay flat,” Cymb. I, 4, 22.
4) commodious; well fitting (in speaking of clothes), smooth, not uneven (of ways): “this woman is an e. glove; she goes off and on at pleasure,” All's V, 3, 278. “our e. robes of peace,” H4A V, 1, 12. “is my beaver --er than it was?” R3 V, 3, 50. “at last, with e. roads, he came to Leicester,” H8 IV, 2, 17. “his ascent is not by such e. degrees,” Cor. II, 2, 28.
5) tractable, soon persuaded, managed without difficulty: “I would your spirit were --er for advice,” Wint. IV, 4, 516. of so e. and so plain a stop, H4B Ind. Wint. IV, 4, 516 “the e. yielding spirit of this woman,” II, 1, 125 (hyphened in O. and M. Edd.). “I can never win a soul so e. as that Englishman's,” H5 II, 2, 125 (or adv.?). “when he thinks, good e. man, full surely his greatness is a ripening,” H8 III, 2, 356. “your lady being so e.” Cymb. II, 4, 47.
6) not to be minded, slight, inconsiderable: “'tis all as e. falsely to take away a life true made as . . . to make a false one,” Meas. II, 4, 46. “which is for me less e. to commit than you to punish,” Wint. I, 2, 58. “the difference is purchase of a heavy curse from Rome, or the light loss of England for a friend: forego the --er,” John III, 1, 207. “was this e.?” H4B V, 2, 71. “these faults are e.” H6B III, 1, 133. “at an e. price,” Tit. III, 1, 199. “a little water clears us of this deed: how e. is it then!” Mcb. II, 2, 68.
Shakespeare Lexicon. Alexander Schmidt. Berlin. Georg Reimer. 1902.
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