Green’s Dictionary of Slang

a euph. oath, lit. ‘God’s blood!’.

c.1597		Shakespeare Henry IV Pt 1 I ii: ’Sblood I am as melancholy as a gib cat.
1599		Jonson Every Man Out of his Humour II i: ’Slud, I think he feeds her with porridge.
1599		H. Porter Two Angry Women of Abington A3: ’Sbloud, I do not like the humour of these springals.
1600		J. Day Blind Beggar of Bednall-Green Act I: Sblud the worst that any man can say of me is, that I am a tall Theef.
1607		Dekker & Webster Northward Hoe I i: Sbloud sir what does he with her?
1607		Tourneur Revenger’s Tragedy (1967) I iii: ’Cause you love swearing, ’slud, I will. [Ibid.] III iv: ’Slud it begins like a whore with good cheer.
1608		Yorkshire Tragedy I v: ’Sblood! you have undone us all, sir.
1608		Merry Devil of Edmonton C: Z’blood, Ile tickle your keeper.
1610		Jonson Alchemist IV iii: ’Slud, he does look too fat to be a Spaniard.
1616		W. Haughton English-Men For My Money C: Sbloud you might haue kept at home and be hangd.
c.1642		T. Killigrew Parson’s Wedding (1664) II v: ’Sblood, I thought you had been sunk.
1657		Marlowe Lascivious Queen III v: S’blood, there’s no comparison between them.
1676		Etherege Man of Mode I i: ’Zbud, you have no reason to talk.
1681		Otway Soldier’s Fortune I i: ’Sbud, I’ll show thee.
1682		‘Mrs. Nelly’s Complaint’ in Wilson Court Satires of the Restoration (1976) 99: Loudlier we swore than plundering dragoons; / S’blood follows s’blood, and zoons succeeded zoons.
1695		Congreve Love for Love II i: ’S’bud, I was but in jest.
1706		R. Estcourt Fair Example III ii: Tittee, tattee! ’Sbud she’s a rare Bed-fellow!
1707		Cibber Double Gallant I i: Dogs! Villains! Monsters! Zbud!
1714		A. Smith Lives of Most Noted Highway-men, etc. I 184: S’bleed (quoth the Fellow) I’de na Mester come with me to Dai.
1721		Penkethman’s Jests 3: S’bud Patrick, I’ll give thee half a Crown for a stroke of those bluff Chops of thine.
1722		S. Centlivre Artifice Act III: Living Things! S’Blead, the Devil would not live wi’ you.
1728		Defoe Street Robberies Considered 45: S’blood, said I, don’t tell me of your House.
1733		Fielding Don Quixote II v: ’Sbud! I’ll beat your Lanthorn-Jaws into your Throat, you Rascal.
1734		C. Johnson Hist. of Highwaymen &c. 147: ’Sbud, Sir, says he, let us make our escape from this Roguish Place, ’Slidking, Sir, they’ll steal our small Guts to make Fiddle-Strings of them.
1738		Swift Polite Conversation 17: ’Sbuds, Madam, I have burnt my Hand on your plaguy Tea-Kettle.
1749		Fielding Tom Jones (1959) 564: ‘Slud! then,’ answered Western.
1751		Smollett Peregrine Pickle (1964) 597: ’Sblood! a believe master thinks I have no more stuff in my body than a dried haddock.
1764		K. O’Hara Midas I iv: ’Sblood, I’ll commit him.
1764		Bloody Register III 178: ’Sbleed madam, says the countryman.
a.1770		T. Chatterton ‘Memoirs of a Sad Dog’ Misc. (1778) 187: ’Sblood and ’oons, you old harridan.
1783		‘Peter Pindar’ ‘Lyric Odes’ Works (1794) I 68: ’Sblood! ’tis a lie!
1797		‘T.B. Junr.’ Pettyfogger Dramatized II iii: S’blood, Sir, you’ve suffered an action to be brought against me!
1806		G. Colman Yngr John Bull II iii: Oh, ’sbud!
1807		Irving & Paulding Salmagundi (1860) 374: ‘’Sblood, man,’ cried he, ‘these are some of our greatest people, our fashionables, who are merely dancing here for amusement’.
1812		‘Hector Bull-us’ Diverting Hist. of John Bull and Brother Jonathan 70: S’blood, what d’ye mean, you bacon faced son of a horned cow.
1824		‘Geoffrey Crayon’ Tales of A Traveller (1850) 70: ’Sblood, lad, thou art the man as has seen the ghost!
1836		T. Hook Gilbert Gurney 144: ‘Sbud,’ said the barrister.
1837		‘A Peter-Pindaric’ Bentley’s Misc. Nov. 609: ’Sblood! what a bump.