All 3 Uses of
incontinence
in
Hamlet, Prince of Denmark
- You must not put another scandal on him, That he is open to incontinency; That's not my meaning: but breathe his faults so quaintly That they may seem the taints of liberty; The flash and outbreak of a fiery mind; A savageness in unreclaimed blood, Of general assault.†
Scene 2.1 *incontinency = the inability to control bodily bathroom functions; or unable or unwilling to moderate other things (when not specified, often sexual behavior)
Uses with a meaning too common or too rare to warrant foucs:
- while, to my shame, I see The imminent death of twenty thousand men That, for a fantasy and trick of fame, Go to their graves like beds; fight for a plot Whereon the numbers cannot try the cause, Which is not tomb enough and continent To hide the slain?†
Scene 4.4 *
- Sir, here is newly come to court Laertes; believe me, an absolute gentleman, full of most excellent differences, of very soft society and great showing: indeed, to speak feelingly of him, he is the card or calendar of gentry; for you shall find in him the continent of what part a gentleman would see.†
Scene 5.2
Definitions:
-
(1)
(incontinence) inability to control bodily bathroom functions; or inability or unwillingness to moderate other things (when not specified, often sexual behavior)
-
(2)
(meaning too common or rare to warrant focus) More commonly, the word form contient is used to describe a very large land mass.