Note to Hamlet, 5.1.9: "se offendendo"


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Hamlet,
Act 5, Scene 1, line 9
se offendendo: i.e., criminally.  —First Clown is responding to his partner's absurd idea that "she drowned herself in her own defence." If that were the case, it would have been se defendendo, "in self-defense."  Both grave-diggers are trying to use the jargon of lawyers.