Moral, subst. 1) a truth proposed, a doctrine, a maxim: “the fox, the ape, the humble-bee, were still at odds, being but three. There's the m. Now the l'envoy,” LLL III, 87. LLL III, 87 LLL III, 87 “a good m., my lord: it is not enough to speak, but to speak true,” Mids. V, 120. “Fortune is an excellent m.” H5 III, 6, 40 (Fluellen's speech). “thus may we gather honey from the weed, and make a m. of the devil himself,” IV, 1, 12. “this m. ties me over to time and a hot summer,” V, 2, 339. “the m. of my wit is 'plain and true'; there's all the reach of it,” Troil. IV, 4, 109. “a pretty m.” Per. II, 1, 39. II, 2, 45.
2) a latent meaning: “you have some m. in this Benedictus,” Ado III, 4, 78. “to expound the meaning or m. of his signs and tokens,” Shr. IV, 4, 79. “mark, silent king, the m. of this sport,” R2 IV, 290. she (Fortune) “is painted also with a wheel, to signify to you, which is the m. of it, that she is turning,” H5 III, 6, 35.
Shakespeare Lexicon. Alexander Schmidt. Berlin. Georg Reimer. 1902.
This text was converted to electronic form by professional data entry and has been proofread to a high level of accuracy.
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