The Continuum Shakespeare Dictionaries provide authoritative yet accessible guides to the principal subject-areas covered by the plays and poetry of Shakespeare. The dictionaries provide readers with a comprehensive guide to the topic under discussion, its occurrence and significance in Shakespeare's works, and its contemporary meanings. Entries range from a few lines in length to mini-essays, providing the opportunity to explore an important literary or historical concept or idea in depth. Entries include: apothecary, bear-baiting, Caesar, degree, gentry, Henry V, kingdom, London, masque, nobility, plague, society, treason, usury, whore and youth. They follow an easy to use three-part structure: a general introduction to the term or topic; a survey of its significance and use in Shakespeare's plays and a guide to further reading.