"zounds" meaning in English

See zounds in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Interjection

IPA: /zuːndz/, /zaʊndz/ Audio: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-zounds.wav [Southern-England], LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-zounds2.wav [Southern-England]
Rhymes: -uːndz, -aʊndz Etymology: Abbreviation of God's wounds, with reference to the wounds from Christ's crucifixion. Compare strewth, blimey, gadzooks, sblood, crikey. Etymology templates: {{m|en|God}} God, {{m|en|-'s|'s}} 's, {{m|en|wounds}} wounds Head templates: {{en-interj}} zounds
  1. (minced oath, chiefly dated) Expressing anger, surprise, assertion etc. Tags: dated Categories (topical): English minced oaths Synonyms: 'zounds, gadswoons, 'swounds, 'dswounds, zooterkins
    Sense id: en-zounds-en-intj-6S6mvfdN Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header

Alternative forms

Download JSON data for zounds meaning in English (2.7kB)

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "God"
      },
      "expansion": "God",
      "name": "m"
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    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "-'s",
        "3": "'s"
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      "expansion": "'s",
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    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "wounds"
      },
      "expansion": "wounds",
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  ],
  "etymology_text": "Abbreviation of God's wounds, with reference to the wounds from Christ's crucifixion. Compare strewth, blimey, gadzooks, sblood, crikey.",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "zounds",
      "name": "en-interj"
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  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "intj",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "topical",
          "name": "English minced oaths",
          "parents": [
            "Minced oaths",
            "Euphemisms",
            "Figures of speech",
            "Rhetoric",
            "Language",
            "Communication",
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1870, R.M. Ballantyne, The Floating Light of the Goodwin Sands",
          "text": "Bounds, mounds, lounds, founds, kounds, downds, rounds, pounds, zounds! — hounds — ha! hounds — I have it.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1900, J.C. Hutcheson, Bob Strong's Holidays",
          "text": "\"Zounds!\" he exclaimed. \"What the dickens is that?\"",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Expressing anger, surprise, assertion etc."
      ],
      "id": "en-zounds-en-intj-6S6mvfdN",
      "links": [
        [
          "minced oath",
          "minced oath"
        ],
        [
          "anger",
          "anger#English"
        ],
        [
          "surprise",
          "surprise#English"
        ],
        [
          "assertion",
          "assertion#English"
        ]
      ],
      "qualifier": "minced oath",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(minced oath, chiefly dated) Expressing anger, surprise, assertion etc."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "'zounds"
        },
        {
          "word": "gadswoons"
        },
        {
          "word": "'swounds"
        },
        {
          "word": "'dswounds"
        },
        {
          "word": "zooterkins"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "dated"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/zuːndz/"
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/zaʊndz/"
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-uːndz"
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-aʊndz"
    },
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-zounds.wav",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/5/5b/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-zounds.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-zounds.wav.mp3",
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      "tags": [
        "Southern-England"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (Southern England)"
    },
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      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-zounds2.wav",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/7/71/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-zounds2.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-zounds2.wav.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/7/71/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-zounds2.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-zounds2.wav.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Southern-England"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (Southern England)"
    }
  ],
  "word": "zounds"
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{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "God"
      },
      "expansion": "God",
      "name": "m"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
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        "1": "en",
        "2": "wounds"
      },
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      "name": "m"
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  ],
  "etymology_text": "Abbreviation of God's wounds, with reference to the wounds from Christ's crucifixion. Compare strewth, blimey, gadzooks, sblood, crikey.",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "zounds",
      "name": "en-interj"
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  ],
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  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "intj",
  "senses": [
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        "English dated terms",
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English interjections",
        "English lemmas",
        "English minced oaths",
        "English terms with IPA pronunciation",
        "English terms with audio links",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned",
        "Rhymes:English/aʊndz",
        "Rhymes:English/aʊndz/1 syllable",
        "Rhymes:English/uːndz",
        "Rhymes:English/uːndz/1 syllable"
      ],
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        {
          "ref": "1870, R.M. Ballantyne, The Floating Light of the Goodwin Sands",
          "text": "Bounds, mounds, lounds, founds, kounds, downds, rounds, pounds, zounds! — hounds — ha! hounds — I have it.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1900, J.C. Hutcheson, Bob Strong's Holidays",
          "text": "\"Zounds!\" he exclaimed. \"What the dickens is that?\"",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Expressing anger, surprise, assertion etc."
      ],
      "links": [
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          "minced oath",
          "minced oath"
        ],
        [
          "anger",
          "anger#English"
        ],
        [
          "surprise",
          "surprise#English"
        ],
        [
          "assertion",
          "assertion#English"
        ]
      ],
      "qualifier": "minced oath",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(minced oath, chiefly dated) Expressing anger, surprise, assertion etc."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "dated"
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  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/zuːndz/"
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/zaʊndz/"
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-uːndz"
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-aʊndz"
    },
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-zounds.wav",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/5/5b/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-zounds.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-zounds.wav.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/5/5b/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-zounds.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-zounds.wav.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Southern-England"
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      "text": "Audio (Southern England)"
    },
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-zounds2.wav",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/7/71/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-zounds2.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-zounds2.wav.mp3",
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      "tags": [
        "Southern-England"
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      "text": "Audio (Southern England)"
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  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "'zounds"
    },
    {
      "word": "gadswoons"
    },
    {
      "word": "'swounds"
    },
    {
      "word": "'dswounds"
    },
    {
      "word": "zooterkins"
    }
  ],
  "word": "zounds"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-04-17 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-04-01 using wiktextract (0b52755 and 5cb0836). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.