zounds
Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Contents |
English [edit]
Alternative forms [edit]
Etymology [edit]
Abbreviation of God's wounds, with reference to Christ's wounds before the crucifixion. Compare strewth, blimey, gadzooks, 'sblood.
Pronunciation [edit]
Interjection [edit]
zounds
- Expressing anger, surprise, assertion etc.
- 'Zounds, a dog, a rat, a mouse, a cat, to scratch a man to death! — Shakespeare, "Romeo and Juliet", 1597
- Bounds, mounds, lounds, founds, kounds, downds, rounds, pounds, zounds! — hounds — ha! hounds — I have it. — R.M. Ballantyne, "The Floating Light of the Goodwin Sands", 1870
- "Zounds!" he exclaimed. "What the dickens is that?" — J.C. Hutcheson, "Bob Strong's Holidays", 1900
