Return to Shakespeare's Sonnet 4 |
1.
spend: use up.
2.
thy beauty's legacy: your inheritance of beauty.
4.
frank: generous. are free: who are generous.
5.
niggard: stingy, miserly person. abuse: misuse.
7.
use: have the use of. There is an implicit contrast with another common meaning of "use": "lay out at interest, invest profitably"; the youth is using up his beauty, rather than investing it by having children.
8.
live: (1) gain a livelihood; (2) remain alive (through offspring).
9.
traffic: commerce, dealings.
10.
deceive: cheat.
14.
Which used lives th' executor to be: i.e., which, if used properly, would survive (in the person of your child) to be the administrator of your estate.