Savage, adj. 1) wild, untamed: “in time the s. bull doth bear the yoke,” Ado I, 1, 263. V, 1, 183. V, 4, 43. their (colts') “s. eyes turned to a modest gaze,” Merch. V, 78. “any thing s.” As II, 6, 7 (== game). “a s. clamour,” Wint. III, 3, 56 (as of wild beasts chased).
2) beastly, brutal: “these pampered animals that rage in s. sensuality,” Ado IV, 1, 62. “his lustful eye or s. heart,” R3 III, 5, 83. “breaks out to s. madness,” Oth. IV, 1, 56. “I have s. cause,” Ant. III, 13, 128 (== cause to act like a wild beast). Substantively: “when thou didst not, s., know thine own meaning,” Tp. I, 2, 355.
3) wild, uncultivated: “our scions, put in wild and s. stock,” H5 III, 5, 7. Particularly applied to people in the uncivilized state of nature: “like a rude and s. man of Inde,” LLL IV, 3, 222. s. islanders (stabbed) “Pompey,” H6B IV, 1, 137. “some s. hold,” Cymb. III, 6, 18.
In this sense it becomes quite a subst., forming a regular plural: “with --s and men of Ind,” Tp. II, 2, 60 (O. Edd. salvages). LLL V, 2, 202. H5 V, 2, 59. Ant. I, 4, 61.
4) rude, unpolished, uncivil: “I thought that all things had been s. here,” As II, 7, 107; cf. “our courtiers say all's s. but at court,” Cymb. IV, 2, 33. III, 6, 23. “the s. strangeness he puts on,” Troil. II, 3, 135. “to fright you thus, methinks, I am too s.” Mcb. IV, 2, 70.
5) ferocious, barbarous, atrocious: “bloody, full of blame, s., extreme, rude, cruel,” Sonn. 129, 4. “his lines would ravish s. ears and plant in tyrants mild humility,” LLL IV, 3, 348. “a s. jealousy,” Tw. V, 122. “the s. spirit of wild war,” John V, 2, 74. H5 II, 2, 95. H6C I, 1, 224. R3 I, 4, 265. Tim. V, 1, 168. Caes. III, 1, 223. Lr. III, 3, 7. Per. V, 1, 218. Troil. V, 3, 49.
Shakespeare Lexicon. Alexander Schmidt. Berlin. Georg Reimer. 1902.
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