by the rood
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English[edit]
Prepositional phrase[edit]
- (archaic) Used as an oath to emphasize the veracity of an associated statement; equivalent to "I swear on Christ's cross."
- 1577, Nicholas Breton, The Workes of a Young Wyt[1], London: Thomas Dawson and Thomas Gardyner:
- Sim[on]. I pray thee tell me now, coulde such a shrow as thou,
Content thy selfe with such a sheepe as I, how sayst thou now?
Sus[an]. A sheepe, nay by the Roode, I rather would haue guest
you, more a Hog like, then a sheepe […]
- c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iv]:
- Gertrude. Have you forgot me?
Hamlet. No, by the rood, not so!
- 1891, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, chapter 9, in The White Company, New York, N.Y., Boston, Mass.: Thomas Y[oung] Crowell & Company […], →OCLC:
- By the rood! if I had my will upon ye, I should nail you upon the abbey doors, as they hang vermin before their holes.