Word: birnam
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Dates: during 1930-1939
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...Macbeth was roaring his last speech to Macduff. His bosom heaved, and his voice thundered out over the audience, rolling majestically up even to the furthermost balcony. His bushy red eyebrows beetled noticeably. Everything had gone against him. His wife had died pitiably. Ten thousand English soldiers had brought Birnam Wood to high Dunsinane. And he was fighting a man not born of a woman. But, despite the witches' warning which must have been ringing in his ears, Macbeth bellowed his own obituary: "Lay on, Macduff; and damn'd be him that first cries Hold, enough...
...custom was, and it affords him an opportunity for a bad pun or two. There are other puns. The movement of the fleet during the evacuation of Boston by the British in 1776 reminded one witness, it is recorded, of a "moving forest." To which Mr. Thompson adds: "a Birnam Wood moving on towards Dunsinano, with reverse English...