gad n.1
a euph. for God, used in a variety of oaths, which have become gradually milder as the decline of religiosity has robbed them of their import; thus egad! excl.
![[UK]](/static/img/flags/uk.png "United Kingdom") | Misogonus in (1906) II i: orgal.: I had rather have found forty pence myself, that I had! [...] oenoph.: Is he gone? Gads sides! this is too bad; I’ll give him his old fippens if it lie in my lot. | |
| Every Man Out of his Humour II i: Gad’s me, here’s company! | |
| Northward Hoe IV i: Ow, by gad, out a cry. | |
| Honest Man’s Fortune IV i: By gad, I think so! | |
| Wild Gallant I i: He’s a bold fellow, I vow to gad. | |
| ‘The Poet’s Ramble after Riches’ in Writings (1704) 14: I vow to Gad if you once vex me, / You know I shall not be afraid, / To fling the Flaggon at your Head. | |
| in Comical Hist. of Don Quixote Pt 3 I i: Gadsdiggers [...] I’ll go presently, and get ready my Wedding Tackle [...] and then at night, Vather-in law – at night – oh Lord, ha, ha, ha. | |
| Female Wits I i: God Gad! | |
| in Pills to Purge Melancholy II 54: Gad Damn-me, cries Bully, ’tis done, / Or else I’m the Son of a Whore. | |
| Lethe Act I: Gad’s my life! | |
| Joseph Andrews (1954) III 208: By Gad, I was once fond of her. | |
| Peregrine Pickle (1964) 380: I vow to Gad! you look extremely shocking, with those gummy eyes, lanthorn jaws, and toothless chaps. | |
| Homer Travestie (1764) I 124: Shall Priam’s lecherous son [...] Be left to make his p-t-le swell in / The heavenly — of beauteous Hellen? / O, no; the very thoughts, by Gad! / Make wisdom’s goddess almost mad. | |
| Mayor of Garrat in Works (1799) I 174: Gad’s my life! | |
| Maid of Bath in Works (1799) II 205: Gad take me, as facetious and free as if I were their father. | |
| School For Scandal III iii: Gad’s life, little Premium, you don’t seem to like the business? | |
| Belle’s Stratagem IV i: By gad, I don’t deceive you. | |
![[US]](/static/img/flags/us.png "United States") | Life and Travels 78: ‘By gad,’ says he. | |
| Paul Clifford I 109: ‘Well – ’gad now,’ said he, stopping ever and anon, as if to laugh the more heartily, ‘Stap my vitals, but you are a comical quiz.’. | |
| North. Liberator (Tyne & Wear) 26 Jan. 3/4: Gadsmylife! he’s ill again. | |
| Vanity Fair I 25: ‘Good Gad! Amelia,’ cried the brother, in serious alarm. | |
| Mysteries of London II (2nd series) 55: By Gad! | |
| General Bounce (1891) 161: By gad, he’s a trump, and no mistake! | |
| Hillyars and Burtons (1870) 237: I thought I was at the Cross Keys! So I am, by gad! | |
| Reading Mercury 31 July 8/5: Agreed, have they? Ods boddikins! gads my life, and marry come up, sweetheart! | |
![[Ind]](/static/img/flags/ind.png "India") | Lays of Ind (1905) 50: ‘By Gad!’ cried the Governor, chuckling. | |
![[Aus]](/static/img/flags/aus.png "Australia") | Robbery Under Arms (1922) 324: ‘Good gad!’ says Starlight. | |
| Bird o’ Freedom 22 Jan. 5: ‘Gad’s alive!’ (mind, Mr. Printer, to spell this correctly to copy), whatever that may mean, I don’t know, only if you go through West Somerset and join with the folk, they’ll be sure to use the word ‘gad’s alive!’ if they wish to express their surprise at anything, or ‘season their admiration’. | |
 | [perf. Marie Lloyd] Actions Speak Louder Than Words 🎵 One morning cool in Rotten Row, she’s sitting on a bench / A Johnny passing eyes her, says, ‘By gad, a comely wench’. | |
| Pink ’Un and Pelican 150: I’ll try ’em with some cheques — by gad I will! | |
| ‘Transients in Arcadia’ in Voice of the City (1915) 170: By Gad, sah! | |
| Gentleman of Leisure Ch. xx: ‘But, by gad!’ mused his lordship; ‘if I had as much as a couple – yes, dash it, even a couple of thousand a year, I’d chance it.’. | |
| Missing Link 🌐 Ch. iii: By Jo-o-ve! [...] that’s a stunnin’ make-up, old chap—what? Nevah saw a bettah, by gad. | |
| Rover 13 Jan. 40: ‘By gad!’ ejaculated the Chairman. | |
| Honey in the Horn 55: He was a good driver. A bad one would have said the gad-blamed horses lost the road. | |
| Whizzbang Comics 51: By Gad! | |
| Aus. Vulgarisms [t/s] 6: God: gad, egad, cor, gawd, gosh, golly, gawblimey, gawstruth, good god, good grief, by ghost, goldarn it, for gorsake, for goshsake, my goodness, by gum. | |
| Seeds of Man (1995) 380: Gad-rattled silly trick ta pull, if’n ya’re askin’ me. | |
| Revolting Rhymes n.p.: The mother cried, ‘By gad, I will!’. | |
| Powder 349: Oh Gad!! Oh my Gad! |
In compounds
(Aus.) a clergyman.
| Sun. Times (Perth) 5 Feb. 1/1: The popular pastime [i.e a water-chute] is too giddy a game for the godly ex-gad thumper. |
In exclamations
a mild excl, li.t ‘God’s blood!’.
| Mornings in Bow St. 299: ‘Gad’s blood ! Misthress O'Reilly,' says he, ‘to the devil I will pitch him, for myself can't do without ye any longer at all!’. | |
| Pierce Egan’s Life in London 27 Mar. 70/2: ‘O, gad’s blood! will ye be after swearing people’s lives away in that manner Ye’re false-swearing thieves, both of ye’. |
a mild excl., lit. ‘God’s body!’.
| Double-Dealer IV ii: Gadsbud, I’m transported! | |
| Love for Love IV i: Gads-bobs, does he not know me? | |
![[Ire]](/static/img/flags/ire.png "Ireland") | Midas II i: Gad’s bud, I dread her vengeance. | |
| ‘Orson & Ellen’ Works (1801) V 347: Gad’s bob! if things go right, With that nice Girl who gave the pot I’ll sleep this very night. | |
| (con. 1737–9) Rookwood (1857) 57: Gads bobs! [...] they tell me that Turpin keeps the best nag in the United Kingdom. | |
| Leeds Times 29 Dec. 6/5: Gadsbud, says I, it’s Mr Selwyn. | |
| Ulysses 86: What, you dog? Have you a way with them? Gad’s bud. |
a mild excl., lit. ‘God’s little body!’.
| Humours of Oxford V ii: Gadsbudakins! I don’t know what to do. | |
| Peregrine Pickle (1964) 305: Gadsbodikins! I won’t leave him a wind-pipe for the hangman to stop. |
a mild excl., lit. ‘God’s eyelid!’.
| Every Man In his Humour (Anglicised) I i: By gadslid I scorn it. | |
| Lascivious Queen IV v: By Gad’s lid if I run not after them like a Tiger. | |
| in Comical Hist. of Don Quixote Pt 3 I i: Gadslidikins, there are a pair of Portcullises before it. |
a mild excl.
| Hey for Honesty III i: If her ploud be but up twice and once, her will tug out her sword, and, gads nigs! let her take very many heed, her will carbonado very much legs and arms. |
a euph. for God and used as a mild excl., lit. ‘God’s wounds!’.
| Plain-Dealer III i: Do I look like the picture of ill Luck? Gadsnouns, I love thee more and more. | |
| ‘To a late Scotch Tune’ in Poems 39: I gave him the Lord knows what Gadzounds. | |
| She-Gallants V i: Gad zoons what marry a Chamber-maid. | |
| ‘Mac Ballor’ in Pills to Purge Melancholy II 281: But tho the Guns spar’d my Bones, Love Gad Zoons, / Ala boo, Boo, &c. | |
| Coventry Eve. Teleg. 11 Mar. 4/1: ‘ad-zounds!’ he exclaimed to himself. | |
![[Scot]](/static/img/flags/sco.png "Scotland") | Dundee Courier 3 Oct. 4/2: The blasphemous magnificence of our ancestors who swore roundly by God’s eyes and His wounds. A more timid generation watered down such expressions to ‘ad-zooks!’ and ‘Gadzounds!’ and even to ‘Zooks!’ and ‘Zounds!’. |
a general excl.
| Old Bachelor IV i: Gads so, there he is, he must not see me. | |
| Sir Harry Wildair II i: His Wife! Gad so! | |
| Humours of a Coffee-House 9 Jan. 86: Gadso; Mr. Froth, your District is short. | |
| Englishman in Paris in Works (1799) I 40: Gadso! well, my dear, I must run. | |
| Mayor of Garrat in Works (1799) I 179: Gadso! the candidates are coming. | |
| Trip to Scarborough I i: Gad-so, Sir. | |
| Fire and Water! (1790) 30: Gadso, child, the company are to be here immediately. | |
| Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue ms. additions n.p.: Gad-so. an Exclamation said to be derived from the Italian word cazzo, the Scrotum. | |
| Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue (3rd edn) n.p.: gad-so. An exclamation said to be derived from the Italian word cazzo. | |
| Lex. Balatronicum. | |
| Man o’ War’s Man (1843) 404: ‘Gadso, Jack, my dear!’ cried she. | |
| Spirit of the Times (NY) 14 Apr. 2/6: ‘Gas so (said Ned) I forgot my fool’s dress’. | |
| Oliver Twist (1966) 70: ’Gadso!’ said the undertaker [...] that’s just the very thing I wanted to speak to you about. | |
| Leeds Times 25 Nov. 2/6: ‘Gadso!’ cried the malcontent. | |
| Wrexham Advertiser 12 Sept. 7/7: ‘Gadso!’ cried the squabbler. | |
| N. Wales Chron. 14 July 7/7: The Bicentenary of the Armada [...] Captain Charles Beresford: Gadso! belay! and avast heaving! |
a euph. for God and used as a mild excl., lit. ‘God’s hooks!’.
| Rehearsal II v: Ah, gadsookers, I have broke my Nose. | |
| Hind and Panther 6: Gadsokers! Mr. Johnson, does your Friend think I mean nothing but a Mouse, by all this? | |
| ‘Trip to Dunkirk’ in Harleian Misc. I (1808) 210: The French, as they say [...] Are coming, gadsookers! to pay us a visit. | |
| Spiritual Quixote II Bk viii 240: ‘Gad-zookers!’ says he, ‘these Welsh people are all mad, I think; I never heard such rantipole doings since I was born.’. | |
| Regiment 16 May 102/1: [H]e takes his stand / Eke by the blackboard—or gadszooks he sits. / Tis all the same. |
a mild excl., lit. ‘God’s precious (heart)!’.
| Pardoner’s Tale line 364: Hise othes is to outrageous. ‘By Goddes precious herte,’ and ‘by his nayles’. | |
| Plain-Dealer III i: Gads-precious! you hectoring person, you, are you wild? |
a mild excl., lit. ‘God’s wounds!’.
| City Looking Glass I i: Gadswogs! nor I. [Ibid.] III iv: Gadswogs! That’s a word never came from a Christian dictionary. |
a mild excl., lit. ‘God’s wounds!’.
| ‘Mac Ballor’ in Pills to Purge Melancholy II 281: But tho the Guns spar’d my Bones, Love Gad Zoons, / Ala boo, Boo, &c. |
lit. ‘God’s hooks!’; a general oath, one of many ways of euphemizing God.
| Eng. Moor I ii: Has he Cadzooks? | |
| Innocent Mistress I iv: Gadzooks! This Counsellor Cobblecase has talked law and drank claret with me ’till my brains are turned topsy-turvy. | |
| ‘Gillian of Croyden’ in Pills to Purge Melancholy II 230: Gadzookes then Nelly let’s watch our Sheets. | |
| in Pills to Purge Melancholy I 25: Gadzooks you’re a Cowardly Fool. | |
| Sexes Mis-Match’d 175: Gadsooks, Widow, I ask Pardon. | |
| Peregrine Pickle (1964) 252: Gadzooks! and the devil and all that, I’d rather lie still where I am, and let myself be devoured by vermin. | |
| Farmer 17: Just as your Country Folks [swear] ‘Odibodikins’ ‘Gadzookens’ and ‘by the living Jingo’. | |
| ‘A Favorite Comic Song’ Parsley’s Lyric Repository 17: Gadzooks! I will never marry. | |
| Ode to the Judges n.p.: Gadzooks, friend. winterbotham: Thou’rt a fool. | |
| ‘Sung in Fontainbleau’ Songster’s Companion 77: Gadzooks! so fine myself I’ll rig. | |
| Military Adventures of Johnny Newcome II 78: If that’s your plan, gadzooks! I’ll bet a wager I soon shall see you Captain! | |
| ‘The Man Who Had Too Much Meat’ Cuckold’s Nest 24: Floating about, his meat, so stout, / Folks took it to be a jolly great shark. / Then nets and hooks they got, gadzooks, / Resolved the monstrous fish to dock. | |
| Devil In London Epilogue: Gadzooks! I’ll make an offer of my hand. | |
| Lorna Doone (1923) 53: Gadzooks, Master Pooke [...] do you suppose that I know not then the way to carry firearms? | |
| Bulletin (Sydney) 25 Apr. 10/3: Where is the glamour of golden youth? / Where are the joys of jeunesse dorée? / When a flat-foot man, with a build uncouth, / With a thick-set brogue and a bearded tooth, / Can run you in – Gadzooks! Forsooth! | |
| Music Hall & Theatre Rev. 15 Feb. 5/1: Odds bodkins! likewise gadsooks! How the time does fly along. | |
| ‘A Code of Morals’ Departmental Ditties (1899) 146: ‘My Love,’ i’faith! ‘My Duck,’ Gadzooks! ‘My darling popsy-wop!’. | |
| Salt Lake Herald (UT) 16 Oct. 23/4: Faith and gadzooks! If he disappoints me I’ll stick my sword into him. | |
| Arthur’s 312: Gadzooks! and likewise zoons! | |
| Sun. Times (Perth) 27 Dec. 4/7: Tempora! O Mores! Gadzooks! | |
| Sun. Times (Perth) 30 Jan. 2nd sect. 4/7: Great Scott! Gadzooks! Gee-whizz! | |
| Psmith Journalist (1993) 299: Cut up rough? Gadzooks! | |
| Marvel 1 Mar. 7: For gadzookikins and odd-bodikins. | |
| Ulysses 322: Gadzooks! cried the last speaker. | |
| A Thousand and One Afternoons [ebook] A meal at the club, and gadzooks but his stomach was in arms! | |
| Times Recorder (Zanesville, OH) 13 Dec. 7/7: ‘Gadzooks, I need a drink’. | |
| Yorks. Eve. Post 11 Feb. 9/4: [advert] ‘Gadzooks,’ said good King Ethelbert / ‘This is a most uncomfy shirt’. | |
| Jeeves in the Offing 14: Gadzooks! | |
| Rhyme Stew (1990) 14: Shouting, ‘Gadzooks! Hooray! There passes / One member of the upper-classes!’. | |
| Observer Rev. 1 Aug. 3: Gadzooks, that spoon was bending like spaghetti. | |
| Mother Jones July/Aug. 🌐 He is a reader of old westerns and an aficionado of Civil War reenactments. He uses words like ‘gadzooks’ and phrases like ‘useful as tits on a boar hog’. |