humour sb. (the excessive use of this word in fashion in S.'s time is often ridiculed by him, notably in Nym's jargon in Wiv. and H5)
1.
moisture
Cæs. II. i. 262
“suck up the humours Of
the dank morning.”
2.
in early physiology,
fluid of an animal or vegetable body, either natural
or morbid; esp. any of the four chief fluids of the
human body (blood, phlegm, choler, melancholy), by
the relative proportions of which a person's
physical and mental qualities were held to be
determined
Ado III. ii. 27
“the toothache—Where is but a or a
worm?,”
LLL. I. i. 233
“the black-oppressing
”
(melancholy was called ‘black
choler’),
John V. i. 12
“This inundation of
mistemper'd ,”
1H4 II. iv. 501
“that trunk of
h-s,”
Troil. I. ii. 23,
Rom. IV. i. 96
“through all thy veins .
. . A cold and drowsy ,”
Oth. III. iv. 32.
3.
mental disposition,
temperament
LLL. V. i. 10
“his is lofty,”
2H4 II. iv. 256
“what is the prince
of?,”
R3 IV. iv. 270, Cæs. IV. iii.
119; pl. LLL. II. i.
53, 2H6 I. i. 248.
4.
temporary state of
mind, mood, temper
Wiv. II. iii. 79
“see what he is in,”
1H4 III. i. 171
“When you do cross his
”
(Qq “come
crosse”),
R3 I. ii. 229
“Was ever woman in this
woo'd?,”
IV. i. 64
“feed my ,”
Oth. III. iv. 124
“Were he in favour as in
alter'd,”
Lucr. Arg. 8 “In that
pleasant humour.”
5.
fancy, whim, caprice
Mer.V. III. v. 69
“let it be as h-s and
conceits shall govern,”
John IV. ii. 209,
Tit. V. ii. 140
“Yield to his
humour.”
6.
inclination or
disposition (“for”
something), fancy (to do something)
Ado V. iv. 102
“flout me out of my
,”
MND. I. ii. 31
“my chief is for a
tyrant,”
H5 II. i. 58
“I have an humour to
knock you.”