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单词 god
释义

godn.int.

Brit. /ɡɒd/, U.S. /ɡɑd/
Forms:

α. early Old English go (Mercian, transmission error), early Old English gotho (plural, rare), Old English geode (dative, transmission error), Old English geodes (genitive, transmission error), Old English godedes (genitive, transmission error), Old English (rare) Middle English–1600s godd, Old English–early Middle English goð (perhaps transmission error), Old English–early Middle English (rare) (1600s in representations of Welsh English) cod, Old English– god, late Old English gedes (genitive, transmission error), late Old English gode- (in compounds), late Old English goden (dative, perhaps transmission error), early Middle English ȝod, early Middle English ȝodd, early Middle English got, early Middle English goðð (perhaps transmission error), Middle English godde, late Middle English gottys (genitive), 1500s gos (genitive); chiefly North American (colloquial and regional) 1800s– gahd, 1900s– gaahd; also Scottish pre-1700 godd; also Irish English (Wexford) 1800s gud.

β. Old English (rare) Middle English–1500s good, early Middle English ȝode, Middle English goed, Middle English goid, Middle English gooddes (plural), Middle English guodes (genitive, perhaps transmission error), Middle English–1600s gode, late Middle English goodyse (genitive), late Middle English goyd; U.S. regional 1800s– gord; Scottish pre-1700 goid, pre-1700 1900s– gode, 1800s– goad.

Origin: A word inherited from Germanic.
Etymology: Cognate with Old Frisian god, Old Dutch god (Middle Dutch, Dutch god), Old Saxon god (Middle Low German got, (inflected) gōd-, godd-), Old High German got (Middle High German got, German Gott), Old Icelandic guð, goð, Norn (Shetland) go,Old Swedish guþ (Swedish gud), Danish gud (already in early modern Danish), Gothic guþ (usually abbreviated as ḡþ) < a Germanic base of uncertain origin (see note). Further etymology. The further etymology is very uncertain. The underlying Germanic base has been explained as a derivative (with the Germanic base of -ed suffix1) of the zero-grade of either of two possible Indo-European verbal bases: (i) the (unsuffixed) base of yet v. with the underlying meaning ‘pour’ (used here with reference to poured sacrifices or libations), or (ii) a base with the meaning ‘to invoke’. With (i) perhaps compare Sanskrit huta poured in sacrifice, sacrificed and the similarly-formed (or perhaps cognate) ancient Greek χυτός poured (out), fluid. The base of (ii) is apparently reflected by Sanskrit hū- to invoke (a god) (ablaut variant of hve- to call, summon; compare also puru-hūta , lit. ‘much-invoked’ or ‘invoked by many’, epithet of Indra), Old Irish guth voice, Old Church Slavonic zŭvati to call out, invite, name; this interpretation has often been favoured, but it poses phonological problems. Compare also Gaulish gutu- (in gutuater priest), Lithuanian žavėti to charm, practise magic, which may derive in a similar way from either of these Indo-European bases. Inflection in Old English; variation in gender. In Old English both a strong masculine and a strong neuter (the difference in gender apparently being to some extent semantically motivated: see below); a weak genitive plural form godena (Northumbrian godana ) is also occasionally attested, but the word does not otherwise show weak inflection. The Germanic word was apparently originally strong neuter (a -stem), and it has been hypothesized that the change in gender to strong masculine (a -stem) was a direct consequence of its adoption by the Church as a Christian term, in order to distinguish the personal Judaeo-Christian God from the impersonal pagan gods. The inflectional history of the word in the various Germanic languages appears to show a pattern in which the (original) neuter gender tends to be associated with the pagan gods, while the (later) masculine gender is associated with the Judaeo-Christian God. Gothic guþ (plural guda ) preserves the endings of a strong neuter noun, although it has masculine grammatical agreement (except when referring to the pagan gods). Old Icelandic guð (also goð ) can be both neuter and masculine (the nominative form without -r shows its neuter origin, while the plural forms are respectively unchanged (neuter) and with masculine endings -ar , -ir ); it is generally neuter when used of the pagan gods, and masculine when used of the Judaeo-Christian God (in later Icelandic there is semantic differentiation of the phonological variants, with goð (neuter) applied only to the pagan gods, and guð (masculine) reserved for the Judaeo-Christian God). In West Germanic the word is usually strong masculine; Old English god is regularly masculine with reference to the Judaeo-Christian God, and either masculine or neuter when used in the plural (respectively godas and godu ) with reference to the pagan gods; Old High German got is usually masculine even when referring to the latter (masculine plural gota ; however compare the compound helligot (neuter plural), lit. ‘gods of hell’, translating Latin mānēs manes n.). See further D. H. Green Lang. & Hist. Early Germanic World (1998) 14–16. With the use of a neuter noun to denote pagan gods compare classical Latin nūmen (see numen n.). Use in names. The base is a common element in Germanic personal names, compare e.g. Old English Godgifu , Godrīc , Godwine , Old High German Gotafrid , Gotahilt , Old Icelandic Guðmundr , Guðrún , Goðormr , Burgundian Godemund , Gothic (Ostrogothic) Guduin . Form history and euphemistic variation. In Old English the word is often collocated with the formally identical but etymologically unrelated word gōd good adj., good n., and the two words are not always easy to distinguish (compare discussion at good adj., n., adv., and int.). Rare occurrences of the form good in Old English (see β. forms) may result from confusion of this kind. The association of the two words continues in later English, sometimes leading to the deliberate euphemistic substitution of forms of good n. for god n. (frequently in oaths); such substitution is found in several modern regional varieties, especially in Scots (compare good n. 3). It is nevertheless likely that the majority of Middle English (and later) β. forms show a genuine lengthening of the stem vowel, probably arising originally from open syllable lengthening in oblique (disyllabic) forms; pronunciations reflecting the lengthened form gode are attested in modern English regional and nonstandard use, e.g. J. Wright Eng. Dial. Gram. (1905) 464/1 records the pronunciation /ɡoːd/ from east Devon. (The suggestion made in N.E.D. (1900) that the motivation for lengthening may perhaps have been expressive, i.e. ‘from a desire to utter the name of God more deliberately than the short vowel naturally allows’, is unlikely.) A later (early modern English) lengthening is shown by Gawd n. The modern Scots forms goad, gode at β. forms probably represent the half-close realization of short ŏ typical of many varieties of Scots. From Middle English onwards, especially in oaths (see Phrases 3a, Phrases 3b), the word is subject to extensive euphemistic alteration and substitution (a preference for forms and pronunciations originally regional or nonstandard); compare e.g. ad n.2, cock n.6, Cod n.4, cops int., cots n., Cuds n., dod n.1 and int., Gad n.2, gar int., Ged n.2, Gog n.1, goles n., golly int., gom n.3, gosh n., gosse n.1, gud n., gum n.5, od n.1 and int., Ud n., Uds n. Likewise, in oaths sometimes (especially until the 19th cent.) written with dashes representing suppressed letters, so as to avoid the charge of taking God's name in vain. In Jewish contexts often written G-d , in imitation of the non-vocalized spelling of the name of the Jewish God in Hebrew, and in recognition of the prohibition against pronouncing it (compare discussion at Jehovah n.). Modern capitalization patterns for this word (compare notes at A. 1a and A. II.) only became well established during the 18th cent. Other words for ‘god’. For an alternative early word for a (pre-Christian) god compare Old English ōs and its Germanic and Indo-European cognates discussed at Aesir n. With branch A. II. compare (in Judaism) Adonai n., Elohim n., Jehovah n., and (in Islam) Allah n.
A. n.
I. In uses relating to polytheism, and senses derived from this.
1.
a. A superhuman person regarded as having power over nature and human fortunes; a god (use in the singular usually refers to a being regarded as male (cf. goddess n.), but in the plural frequently used to refer to male and female beings collectively). Chiefly applied to the divinities of polytheistic systems; when applied to the Supreme Being of monotheistic belief, this sense becomes more or less modified: see sense A. 6b.In its application to the objects of polytheistic worship, the word often receives a colouring derived from the predominant monotheistic uses, and is apprehended as a transferred use, ‘a god’ being regarded as a supposed being put in the place of God, or an imperfect conception of God.This sense has been affected by the pagan uses of Latin deus and Greek θεός, of which god is the usual translation. Thus, in Greek mythology, the gods are distinguished from the daemons or supernatural powers of inferior rank, and from the heroes or demigods, who, though objects of worship, and considered as immortal, were not regarded as having ceased to be human. The analogy of this nomenclature is often followed in speaking of existing polytheistic religions.The word is now normally written with a small initial, but when the point of view of the worshipper is to any extent adopted, a capital is sometimes used.Frequently as the second element in appositive compounds, as boy-, bull-, fish-, monkey-, warrior-god, or in compounds of which the first element indicates the sphere of activity or patronage, as fire-, household, nature, sky-, thunder-, wine-god: see the first element.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the supernatural > deity > [noun]
godeOE
deityc1374
higher powerc1384
princec1384
divinityc1386
governorc1400
powerc1425
numen1495
fear1535
heaven1554
godheada1586
godhood1586
landlorda1635
supreme1643
supercelestial1652
supernal1661
universality1681
father1820
unspeakable1843
Molimo1861
Mlimo1897
superperson1907
somebody up there1972
sky fairy1997
eOE (Mercian) Vespasian Psalter (1965) xcv. 5 Quoniam omnes dii gentium daemonia : forðon alle godas ðioda ðioful.
OE Ælfric Lives of Saints (Julius) (1881) I. 98 Ge habbað manega godas and manega gydena [L. multorum deorum dearumque], we soðlice wurðian ænne soðne god.
OE Ælfric Homily: De Falsis Diis (Corpus Cambr. 178) in J. C. Pope Homilies of Ælfric (1968) II. 708 Þar wæs gehende an hæþen tempel, gehalgod þam gode þe wæs gehaten Apollo.
c1275 (?a1200) Laȝamon Brut (Calig.) (1963) l. 2695 Æðes we sulleð þe swerien..uppen ure godd [c1300 Otho god]..þe is icliped Dagon.
a1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. (St. John's Cambr.) (1869) II. 299 Fogous [MS Fogronis]..ordeyned temples to worschip þe false goddes ynne; þerfore he was acounted a god amonge hem þat worschipped suche goddes.
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 780 (MED) Als godds suld ȝee seluen be.
a1450 (a1338) R. Mannyng Chron. (Lamb.) (1887) i. l. 7357 (MED) When þe kyng herde hym nemne a God, He asked þenne how þey trowd.
c1540 (?a1400) Gest Historiale Destr. Troy (2002) f. 125 Our hegh goddes Wold be wrothe at our werkes.
?1577 J. Northbrooke Spiritus est Vicarius Christi: Treat. Dicing 71 They conteyne the wicked actes and whoredomes of the Goddes.
1588 T. Hariot Briefe Rep. Virginia sig. E2v They beleeue that there are many Gods which they call Montoac, but of different sortes and degrees.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Tempest (1623) ii. ii. 115 That's a braue God, and beares Celestiall liquor. View more context for this quotation
1671 J. Milton Samson Agonistes 1176 By combat to decide whose god is God, Thine or whom I with Israel's Sons adore. View more context for this quotation
1697 J. Dryden tr. Virgil Georgics iv, in tr. Virgil Wks. 141 Audacious Youth, what madness cou'd provoke A Mortal Man t' invade a sleeping God ? View more context for this quotation
1713 A. Pope in Guardian 10 June 488 A Poet should never call upon the Gods for their Assistance, but when he is in great Perplexity.
1752 E. Young Brothers i. i, in Wks. (1757) II. 212 I do not think at all; The gods impose, the gods inflict, my thoughts.
1841 M. Elphinstone Hist. India I. ii. iv. 205 Some changes are made by the Jáins in the rank and circumstances of the Hindú gods.
1842 T. B. Macaulay Horatius in Lays Anc. Rome 47 Lars Porsena of Clusium By the Nine Gods he swore That [etc.].
1870 W. Morris Earthly Paradise I. i. 300 Surely no man this is, But some god weary of the heavenly bliss.
1903 Smart Set 9 114/2 Oh, dear Sahiba, the gods are very wise and terrible!
1966 E. Amadi Concubine iv. 18 Igwe could not collect these things and to ward off the wrath of the gods the villagers ejected him from the village.
2011 C. Lemoy Across Pacific 169 Human sacrifices were necessary to calm the angered gods.
b. With postmodifying of-phrase or (now archaic) premodifying genitive indicating the department of nature, or human activity or passion, over which a particular god is thought to rule.In this use the reference, unless there is indication to the contrary, is usually to classical mythology, the gods of which are often mentioned rhetorically or humorously as mere personifications of qualities or influences. the god of day: the sun. the god of war: Mars or Ares. the god of love: Cupid or Eros. the god of wine: Bacchus.
ΚΠ
eOE Cleopatra Gloss. in W. G. Stryker Lat.-Old Eng. Gloss. in MS Cotton Cleopatra A.III (Ph.D. diss., Stanford Univ.) (1951) 323 Nec Bachus, ne wines god.
eOE Cleopatra Gloss. in J. J. Quinn Minor Lat.-Old Eng. Glossaries in MS Cotton Cleopatra A.III (Ph.D. diss., Stanford Univ.) (1956) 205 Vlcanus, fyr oððe fyres god, hellesmiþ.
a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) i. l. 124 O thou Cupide, O thou Venus, Thou god of love, and thou goddesse, Wher is pite?
1483 Catholicon Anglicum (BL Add. 89074) (1881) 161 A God of batylle, mars.
1545 R. Ascham Toxophilus i. f. 9v Apollo god of learninge.
1590 E. Spenser Muiopotmos 315 The God of Seas..strikes the rockes with his three-forked mace.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Timon of Athens (1623) i. i. 281 Plutus the God of Gold Is but his Steward: no meede but he repayes Seuen-fold aboue it selfe. View more context for this quotation
1641 T. Heywood Life of Merlin xxx. 291 But warres god By sword, nor Hermes with his charming rod Shall ought prevaile.
1656 A. Cowley Pindarique Odes 38 in Poems Apollo is not onely the God of Physick, but of Poetry, and all kinde of Florid Letters.
1731 C. Coffey & J. Mottley Devil to Pay i. ii. 11 Come, jolly Bacchus, God of Wine, Crown this Night with Pleasure.
1789 W. H. Brown Power of Sympathy i. 11 Hail gentle God of Love! Encircled as thou art with darts, torments, and ensigns of cruelty, still do we hail thee.
1807 J. Barlow Columbiad ii. 89 Hail us children of the God of day.
1885 R. Bridges Eros & Psyche i. xiv. 6 Her comely boy, The limber scion of the God of War.
1912 E. Pound tr. G. Cavalcanti Sonnets & Ballate 117 Meseemed love's god connived at its completeness.
1916 J. Joyce Portrait of Artist v. 264 Thoth, the god of writers, writing with a reed upon a tablet.
1951 Speculum 26 43 So strong is his desire for this little ‘primerole’ that he readily swears homage to the God of Love.
1958 C. Achebe Things fall Apart iii. 14 I also kill a cock at the shrine of Ifejioku, the god of yams.
2005 Delicious Nov. (Flavours of India Suppl.) 4/3 On the first night of Diwali, Yama, the god of death, is welcomed with a solitary flame.
c. Prefixed (without article) to the name of a god. Also: prefixed to the name of a person likened to a god (rare).
ΚΠ
a1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. (St. John's Cambr.) (1871) III. 43 (MED) Sche..lygh and seide þat god Mars hadde i-brouȝt hir wiþ childe [L. a Marte se gravidatam esse mentita est].
c1450 J. Metham Palmistry (Garrett) in Wks. (1916) 84 Thales Mylesyes..be the ansqwere off god Appollo, fyrst dyd wryte the syens off cyromancy in the langage of Parce.
1508 W. Kennedy Flyting (Chepman & Myllar) in Poems W. Dunbar (1998) I. 216 A monstir maid be god [1568 grit] Mercurius.
1565 B. Googe tr. ‘M. Palingenius’ Zodiake of Life (new ed.) x. sig. LL.vi God Pluto then tell me quoth I why syste thou here so sad?
1600 W. Shakespeare Much Ado about Nothing iii. iii. 130 Like god Bels priests in the old church window. View more context for this quotation
1609 W. Shakespeare Troilus & Cressida i. iii. 169 Yet god Achilles still cries excellent. View more context for this quotation
1694 M. Tindal Let. conc. Trinity & Athanasian Creed ix. 32/2 You as much distinguish God the Father from God the Son, or God the Spirit, as ever they did God Jupiter from God Neptune, or God Pluto.
1712 E. Ward Quack-vintners 22 Nor can God Bacchus to the World commend A better Vintner, or a truer Friend.
1841 H. D. Thoreau Let. 8 Sept. in Lett. Var. Persons (1879) 7 I, who am going to be a pencil-maker to-morrow, can sympathize with God Apollo, who served King Admetus for a while on earth.
1914 Amer. Catholic Q. Rev. Apr. 289 ‘How great art thou, O god Apollo!’ he cried.
1991 M. S. Screech tr. M. de Montaigne Essays ii. ii. 385 To drink in the French style at both meals, but moderately for fear of your health, is too great a restraint on the indulgence of god Bacchus.
2. An image or object (as a plant or an animal) worshipped as symbolizing or constituting the visible habitation of a divinity or as itself possessing divine power; an idol.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the supernatural > deity > [noun] > idol
godeOE
anlikenessOE
stockc1000
mammetc1225
Mahometc1275
Mahoundc1275
idola1325
simulacre1382
marmoseta1398
mammetrya1400
puppet1534
poppet?1548
block1570
Dagona1572
pagoda1582
pagody1588
Mokisso1634
poppet deitya1641
pageant idol1696
pageant thing1696
afgod1769
cult figure1895
eOE Laws of Ælfred (Corpus Cambr. 173) Introd. x. 28 Ne wyrc ðe gyldne godas oððe sylfrene.
OE Vercelli Homilies (1992) xii. 228 Þæt wæs dioflum sylfum, for þon þe hie hira godu hæfdon geworhte of treowum & of stanum & of oðrum untimbrum missenlicum.
OE Old Eng. Hexateuch: Exod. (Claud.) xx. 4 Ne wyrc ðu ðe agrafene godas.
a1325 (c1250) Gen. & Exod. (1968) l. 3541 He seiden to aaraon, ‘Mac vs godes foren us to gon’.
a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Bodl. 959) (1959) Gen. xxxi. 30 Why hast þou stolne my goddis?
1447 O. Bokenham Lives of Saints (Arun.) (1938) l. 2344 Hyre fadrys goddys..Off gold & siluyr..Cristyn brak on pecys..And made off hem a distrybucioun To all þat come.
1535 Bible (Coverdale) Exod. xxxiv. 17 Thou shalt make ye no goddes of metall.
1638 T. Herbert Some Yeares Trav. (rev. ed.) 315 Some Temples..furnisht with wooden gods for politheisme.
1697 J. Potter Archæologiæ Græcæ I. i. xix. 98 The Consecration also of new Gods.
1744 A. Pope Epist. to Several Persons iv. 76 Statues, dirty Gods and Coins.
1794 Gentleman's Mag. Apr. 364/2 A copper God dwells in that temple of gold.
1838 T. Arnold Hist. Rome I. i. 1 They remembered to carry their gods with them, who were to receive their worship in a happier land.
1884 Ballou's Monthly Mag. Feb. 167/2 The huge stone god bellowed forth its low rumbling roar.
1941 Harper's Mag. Jan. 142/1 No more wooden gods, no more morais (temples)—all are destroyed.
1958 J. Barth End of Road v. 66 Her expression..was that of the Athenians on the morning they discovered that Alcibiades had gelded every marble god in town.
1998 L. Forbes Bombay Ice (1999) 100 The clay rain god that had been wedged into the elbow of a branch in Dad's garden.
3. In extended use.
a. An adored, admired, or supremely powerful person.opera, rock, sex god: see the first element.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > love > [noun] > Christian love > (of persons) as objects of adoration
godeOE
the mind > attention and judgement > esteem > reputation > majesty, glory, or grandeur > [noun] > person
godeOE
society > authority > power > [noun] > powerful person or body > powerful person > exercising god-like power
godeOE
vice-god1600
Olympian1869
eOE King Ælfred tr. Boethius De Consol. Philos. (Otho) (2009) I. xxvi. 503 Ac swa swa manna goodnes hi ahefð ofer ða menniscan gecynd to ðon þæt hi bioð godas genemde [read genemnede], swa eac hiora [yfelnes a]wirpð hi under þa mennis[can gec]ynd to þon þæt hio bioð yfle [gehat]ene.
OE Old Eng. Hexateuch: Exod. (Claud.) vii. 1 Drihten cwæð to Moyse: Nu ic gesette þe Pharaone to Gode [L. constitui te Deum Pharaonis].
OE Ælfric Homily: De Falsis Diis (Corpus Cambr. 178) in J. C. Pope Homilies of Ælfric (1968) II. 681 Þa hæþenan..fengon to wurðianne mislice entas and men him to godum, þa þe mihtige wæron on woruldlicum geþincðum, and egefulle on life.
c1275 (?a1200) Laȝamon Brut (Calig.) (1963) l. 3496 Blæðgabreat..cuðen al þeos songes. & þat gleo of ilcche londe..swa þat al þis mon-cun..seiden þat he wes god [c1300 Otho king] of alle gleo-cræften.
a1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. (St. John's Cambr.) (1872) IV. 31 Bledgaret passede alle his predecessoures in musik and in melodie, so þat he was i-cleped god of glee men [L. deus joculatorum].
1577 B. Googe tr. C. Heresbach Foure Bks. Husbandry i. f. 1 Yf these goddes of the Earth would suffer me to enioy suche happinesse.
1579 S. Gosson Schoole of Abuse f. 32 Some there are that make gods of soldiers in open warrs.
1597 W. Shakespeare Romeo & Juliet ii. i. 156 Sweare by thy glorious selfe, Which art the God of my Idolatrie. View more context for this quotation
a1635 R. Sibbes Learned Comm. 2 Cor. i. (1655) 71 A man is a God to a man when he comforts; when he discomforts, and directs, and withdrawes, he is a divell to a man.
1692 S. Johnson Argument Abrogation King James 29 Such an Usurper is a God upon Earth, which it is easie for some sort of Men to make.
1716 R. Blackmore Ess. upon Several Subj. 173 Thus he makes Men of his Beasts, and Gods of his Men, and Men of his Gods.
1797 M. G. Lewis tr. F. Schiller Minister iv. iv. 141 The damsel belongs to me! to me, who was once her god; to me, who am now her devil!
1864 Ld. Tennyson Aylmer's Field in Enoch Arden, etc. 52 Sir Aylmer Aylmer that almighty man, The county God.
1883 Sir F. Pollock in Fortn. Rev. 1 Oct. 537 The ruling gods of the circulating libraries.
1907 Observer 10 Mar. 10/2 Was not a great Cardiff football god the hero of the match?
1997 Vanity Fair July 120/1 He [sc. Ed Sullivan] was the God of Sunday Night.
2005 N.Y. Times Mag. 2 Oct. 118/2 I wanted to meet Garth. He was the god of the business, the guy you wanted to be.
b. An adored or worshipped object; something exercising great or supreme influence.In early use, chiefly with reference to the belly, after Philippians 3:19 ‘whose God is their belly’.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > power > [noun] > that which has absolute power
godOE
OE Vercelli Homilies (1992) vii. 135 And gemunað Iudeas þe hira lif eall hyra wambe to forlore forgeafon. Be ðam wæs cweden þæt hyra wamb wære hyra god.
c1225 (?OE) Soul's Addr. to Body (Worcester) (Fragm. D) l. 36 For þin wombe was þin god.
1340 Ayenbite (1866) 248 Þe glotoun and þe to moche nimere of metes makeþ of hare womben hare god, ase zayþ zaynte paul.
?a1425 Mandeville's Trav. (Egerton) (1889) 154 Þus þai make þaire godd of þaire wambe, so þat na worthyness ne doghtyness þai vse.
a1586 Sir P. Sidney Arcadia (1590) iii. xv. sig. Rr1 Like a man whose will was his God, and his hand his law.
1640 J. Fletcher & J. Shirley Night-walker i. sig. B3 The old mans god, his gold, has wonne upon her.
1664 E. Gearle Three Country-Mens Eng. Answers 12 We were resolved to go to Prison, rather then to uphold or maintain his belly (which is his God).
1756 tr. C. Goldoni Pamela i. 39 Money is not my god.
1788 H. Cowley Fate of Sparta ii. i. 22 It is not glory, nor the hope of fame The mercenary feels—his God is plunder.
1852 F. W. Robertson Expos. Lect. Epist. Cor. (1859) xlvii. 430 A man's god is that which has his whole soul and worship, that which he obeys and reverences as his highest.
1896 in Daily News 30 Dec. 6/2 [He] is convinced there is no God so omnipotent as that of the full purse.
1906 C. Mansfield Girl & Gods xix. 222 Self is their god and Selfishness their religion.
1994 P. Baker Blood Posse v. 61 Style was his god. His suede Pumas and sharkskin pants were the joint.
2005 Alcalde (Univ. Texas) Nov.–Dec. 45/2 I think the great god of quantification and standardization is really problematical.
4. In plural.
a. Theatre. The occupants of the seats in the highest part of the auditorium; that part of the audience occupying the gallery. Also (rare) in singular. Cf. gallery god n., gallery goddess n. at gallery n. Compounds 1d.In quot. 1752 with punning allusion to an episode in Homer's Iliad, set on Olympus, home of the Greek gods.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > the theatre or the stage > theatre-going > theatregoer > [noun] > theatre audience > occupants of specific seat or place > collectively
gallery1649
box1677
side-box1685
gods1752
stall1901
1752 B. Thornton Adventurer No. 3. 18 The servant whose business it is, as Homer says, ‘To shake the regions of the gods with laughter’.
1806 T. S. Surr Winter in London II. v. 108 The high regions assigned to that part of the audience called the ‘gods’, namely, the galleries.
1843 W. M. Thackeray Irish Sketch-bk. I. xii. 227 One young god, between the acts, favoured the public with a song.
1885 Manch. Examiner 4 May 5/3 The wrath of the pittites and the gods was appeased.
1897 G. B. Shaw in Sat. Rev. 1 May 471/1 These people would not, like the shilling god, expect the drama to be written down to them.
1913 Punch 23 Apr. 322/1 The warriors I prefer to hymn Are products of this peaceful age Who, with a courage truly grim, Have scaled the boards and stormed the stage. Here facing fearful ‘gods’ each day, They hold the fort from hour to hour.
2008 S. K. Sagala Buffalo Bill on Stage vii. 124 Regardless how the gods cheered, the critics would fill their columns with personal judgments.
b. colloquial (originally Theatre). With the. The seats above the dress circle in a theatre; the gallery. Now also: the upper tier of seats in a stadium. Frequently in in the gods.
ΚΠ
1900 N.Y. Times 7 Oct. 16/6 Then, perhaps, they would have more thought and consideration for the poor playgoer who goes up in the ‘gods’.
1922 J. Joyce Ulysses ii. xv. 441 He said that he had seen from the gods my peerless globes as I sat in a box of the Theatre Royal.
1982 H. Rosenthal My Mad World of Opera ii. 13 It was a wonderful experience to be downstairs instead of in the gods.
2013 Daily Record (Glasgow) (Nexis) 19 Sept. (Sport section) 70 Celtic's support was stretched out across the highest tier, way up there in the gods.
II. In uses relating to monotheism, and senses derived from this. (Now usually with initial capital.)
5. Especially in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam: the Supreme Being, regarded as the creator and ruler of the universe.
a. Treated as a proper name.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the supernatural > deity > Christian God > [noun]
the Most HigheOE
highesteOE
alwaldendOE
drightinOE
godOE
King of kingsOE
heavenOE
lordOE
sky?1518
gossea1556
beingc1600
deity1647
Master of the Universe1765
Morimo1824
Molimo1861
Gawd1877
big guy1925
Modimo1958
the world > the supernatural > deity > Christian God > [noun] > name of > God as name
godOE
godhead1357
OE Beowulf (2008) 930 A mæg God wyrcan wunder æfter wundre.
OE Ælfric Old Eng. Hexateuch: Gen. (Claud.) i. 1 On angynne gesceop God [L. Deus] heofonan & eorðan.
OE tr. Theodulf of Orleans Capitula (Bodl.) xxix. 351 God, milde beo þu me synfullum.
c1175 Ormulum (Burchfield transcript) l. 623 Godess enngell gabriæl. Comm dun o godess hallfe. I godess hus. wiþþ godess word.
a1225 (?OE) MS Lamb. in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1868) 1st Ser. 15 Þis beoð godes word þe god seolf idihte.
?a1300 Iacob & Iosep (Bodl.) (1916) l. 37 (MED) God leue þe so to speke þat tou in none worde his heste ne tobreke.
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 1061 Rightwis he was, and godds freind.
c1475 (a1449) J. Lydgate Interp. & Virtues Mass l. 275 in Minor Poems (1911) i. 99 When a man offreth to God hys herte, Rychest oblacion.
1523 Ld. Berners tr. J. Froissart Cronycles I. clxii. 199 The lorde Chandos sayd to the prince..this iourney is yours: God is this day in your handes.
1562 Certayn Serm. preached in Lincs. in H. Latimer 27 Serm. ii. f. 127v Thou must be sorie for it in thy hearte, and aske god forgiuenes.
c1616 R. C. Times' Whistle (1871) i. 129 God is an Essence intellectuall, A perfect Substance incorporeall.
1651 T. Hobbes Leviathan ii. xxxi. 191 God; in which is contained Father, King, and Lord.
1737 R. Challoner Catholick Christian Instructed ii. 8 A likely Set of Men for bringing back God's Truth..who, so far from having any Orders or Mission, had not so much as Baptism.
1740 S. Richardson Pamela II. 388 God, the All-gracious, the All-good, the All-bountiful, the All-mighty, the All-merciful God.
1774 F. Asbury Jrnl. 28 Nov. (1821) I. 133 I do not sufficiently love God, nor live by faith in the suburbs of heaven.
1810 S. Green Reformist I. 186 I did not think that London was yet such a sink of depravity, as to openly serve God and Satan on the same day.
1877 E. R. Conder Basis of Faith iii. 95 For by this name God we understand an Infinite Mind, everywhere present, the source and foundation of all other existence, possessed of all possible power, wisdom, and excellence.
1902 Perry Mag. Oct. 74/1 Come to prayer, come to adore, God is Great!
1956 W. H. Nes Excellency of Word ii. 59 Man cannot rest until he sees God.
2012 Daily Tel. 24 Feb. 22/2 Muslims consider the Koran the literal word of God and treat each copy with deep reverence.
b. With an additional title or epithet. Frequently prefixed to the designations of the Persons of the Trinity, as God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Ghost.Almighty God, Lord God: see the first element. See also God almighty n., int., adv., and adj.
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OE (Northumbrian) Lindisf. Gospels: John i. 1 In principio erat uerbum et uerbum erat apud deum : in fruma uæs uord & uord þæt is Godes sunu uæs mið God feder.
OE Maxims I 75 An sceal inbindan forstes fetre felameahtig God.
OE St. Mary of Egypt (Julius) (2002) 102 Sy þu gebletsod, Drihten God.
c1175 Ormulum (Burchfield transcript) l. 13080 Crist iss an. I kinde..Allwældennd godd wiþþ haliȝ gast. & wiþþ hiss faderr baþe.
c1225 (?c1200) Hali Meiðhad (Bodl.) (1940) l. 103 Weilawei, ihesu godd, hwuch unwurðe chaffere!
1340 Ayenbite (1866) 99 Godessone hit made to god þe uader ine worde. God þe holy gost þet is þet me acseþ.
c1425 (c1400) Prymer (Cambr.) (1895) 47 God, fadir of heuene... God þe son... God þe holi gost, haue merci of us!
c1440 (?c1350) in G. G. Perry Relig. Pieces in Prose & Verse (1914) 48 Powere es appropirde to Godd þe Fadir and wisdom to Godd þe Sonne and gudnes to Godd þe Haly Gaste.
1534 W. Marshall tr. Erasmus Playne & Godly Expos. Commune Crede f. 23 I beleue in God the father almyghty vnuysyble and vnpassyble.
1573 T. Tusser Fiue Hundreth Points Good Husbandry f. 86 And God the holy Ghost, the soule of man doth winne, By mouing her to waile for grace, ashamed of her sinne.
1605 J. Sylvester tr. G. de S. Du Bartas Deuine Weekes & Wks. ii. i. 311 But all-good God..Forbad vs touch that Tree on paine to die.
1645 G. Gillespie Nihil Respondes 11 That which were a dishonour to God the Son, were a dishonour to God the holy Ghost.
1720 D. Waterland 8 Serm. Divinity of Christ 175 Upon this Occasion,..it pleased God, in the most solemn and pompous Manner to proclaim the high Dignity of God the Son.
1845 G. S. Faber Eight Diss. I. i. iii. 36 God the Father..economically declares his high behests through the medium of the Word.
a1879 F. R. Havergal Life Echoes (1883) 7 The Love of God the Father,..Be yours aboundingly, I pray, For this and every coming day.
1957 J. Bishop Day Christ Died (1959) 203 As God the son, he is equal to and commingled with the Father.
2003 R. Lacey Street Bible 428 The offer of an open door to Father God.
c. Used (without qualifying words) for: Jesus. Obsolete except as implied in Mother of God at mother n.1 2a and some phrases at Phrases 3b.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the supernatural > deity > Christian God > the Trinity > the Son or Christ > [noun]
soneOE
godOE
son of manOE
Abraham's seedOE
King of kingsOE
Christ almightyOE
ChristOE
JesusOE
lordOE
Our LordOE
Jesus Christc1175
Christ Jesusc1330
second personc1380
holiesta1400
Son of Goda1425
Man of Sorrows1577
OE Cynewulf Elene 687 Ic þæt geswerige þurh sunu meotodes, þone ahangnan God.
OE Ælfric Homily (Cambr. Ii.4.6) in J. C. Pope Homilies of Ælfric (1967) I. 357 Þæt is swyðe god spell, þurh Godes tocyme us to gehyrenne þæt we habban moton þa heofonlican wununge mid him sylfum æfre.
OE Homily: Ded. Church (Tiber. C.i) in P. Clemoes Anglo-Saxons (1959) 274 On cyricean wyrð gegæderod cristen folc..to underfonne godes flæsc and godes blod.
?c1225 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Cleo. C.vi) (1972) 105 Ha..beoreð godes rode.
?1316 Short Metrical Chron. (Royal) l. 630 in J. Ritson Anc. Eng. Metrical Romanceës (1802) II. 296 Therinne wes closed a nail gret That ede thurh godes fet.
c1405 (c1395) G. Chaucer Clerk's Tale (Hengwrt) (2003) l. 1062 By god þt for vs deyde.
a1450 (?a1400) J. Wyclif Sel. Eng. Wks. (1871) III. 500 And þan he receyves God gostly.
a1500 (?a1475) Guy of Warwick (Cambr. Ff.2.38) l. 1 (MED) Sythe þe tyme þat god was borne..Mane aventewres hathe befalle.
1609 I. D. Confession Christian Relig. 18 As God redeemed the world by his blood, the God of glory was crucified.
6. A being such as is understood by the name ‘God’; a sole divine creator and ruler of the universe.
a. As a general concept.
ΚΠ
OE St. Eustace (Julius) in W. W. Skeat Ælfric's Lives of Saints (1900) II. 190 Ac se mildheorta and se welwillenda God [L. benignus deus], þe simle æghwær to him þa þe him wurðe beoð gecygð, ne forseah his godan weorc.
OE Ælfric Homily: De Falsis Diis (Corpus Cambr. 178) in J. C. Pope Homilies of Ælfric (1968) II. 695 Ic wille þæt min folc on eallum minum rice anmodlice buge to Daniheles Gode [L. Deum Danihelis].
OE King Ælfred tr. Psalms (Paris) (2001) xiii. 1 Se unrihtwisa cwyð on his mode, ‘Nis nan God [L. non est deus] þe þis wite oððe wræce’.
a1450 (?c1405) in J. Kail 26 Polit. Poems (1904) 29 Þey wene no god þer nys..Or elles, a-noþer heresy þere is.
1495 Trevisa's Bartholomeus De Proprietatibus Rerum (de Worde) i. sig. Aiijv/2 How be it that this dyuyne essence..maye not be perfyghtly knowen..yet there is not eny mortall persone. hauynge the vse of dyscrecyon. but that he woll confesse there is a god.
1563 B. Googe Eglogs Epytaphes & Sonettes sig. C.viiiv A God there is, that guyds the Globe, and framde the fyckle Spheare.
1678 R. Cudworth True Intellect. Syst. Universe i. v. 889 To Believe a God, is to Believe the Existence of all Possible Good and Perfection in the Universe.
1785 W. Cowper Task ii. 161 Happy the man, who sees a God employ'd In all the good and ill that checker life!
1799 S. T. Coleridge Lines in Album in Morning Post 17 Sept. The God who fram'd Mankind to be one mighty family.
1872 Radical Apr. 251 Against the assertion of the Christian theologian that a God understood would be no God at all is set the protest of the Christian sentimentalist that a God not understood is no God at all.
1877 E. R. Conder Basis of Faith Pref. 12 Is there a God? Is there an Infinite, All-wise, All-powerful Spirit?
1951 W. H. Auden Nones (1952) 11 Unable To conceive a god whose temper-tantrums are moral.
2009 N. Cave Death Bunny Munro (2010) viii. 68 Whoever said that there isn't a God is full of shit!
b. As opposed to the gods of other faiths (with partial reversion to the general sense: see sense A. 1).
ΘΚΠ
the world > the supernatural > deity > Christian God > [noun] > being such as
godOE
OE Old Eng. Hexateuch: Deut. (Claud.) x. 17 Drihten sylf is goda God [L. Deus deorum], mære God & mihtig.
OE Paris Psalter (1932) cxxxv. 2 Ic andette þam þe ece is ealra godena god.
c1384 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(2)) (1850) 1 Cor. viii. 4 We witen, for an ydol is no thing in the world, and that ther is no God but oon.
?a1425 (c1400) Mandeville's Trav. (Titus C.xvi) (1919) 91 (MED) Þere is no god but on, & Machomete his messager.
1561 T. Norton tr. J. Calvin Inst. Christian Relig. i. f. 8 Euen thys is it, to make a shadowishe God, to driue farre away the true God whome we ought to feare and worshyp.
1685 J. Jackson et al. Annot. Holy Bible II. sig. 4A3/1 They set up Puppets and Idols of their own devising, in the room of the true God.
1786 F. Gladwin tr. Epitome Mohammedan Law 7 I call him an Islamite, who, on being questioned in the grave, beareth witness that there is no God but God.
1827 W. Scott Life Napoleon IV. iii. 85 ‘There is no God but God, and Mahommed is his prophet’. A confession of faith which is in itself a declaration of Islamism.
1868 J. B. Lightfoot Epist. Philippians (1873) 94 He determined to overthrow the worship of the one true God.
1911 ‘M. Field’ Messiah i. i, in Accuser 158 The Muéddin: God is great, there is no God but God.
1939 A. Toynbee Study of Hist. VI. 44 The One True God whose alter ego Allāh was now proclaimed to be.
1999 R. M. Hannula Trial & Triumph xii. 77 His mother told him about the one true God who reigns on high.
c. Chiefly with of. Such a being as associated with or embodying a particular quality (as the God of love, the God of mercy, the God of vengeance, etc.) or sphere of life or action (as the God of nature, the God of revelation, the God of providence), or as conceived of in a specified religion or system of thought (as the God of philosophy, the God of pantheism, the God of Judaism).Lord God of Hosts: see host n.1 3b.
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OE (Northumbrian) Liturgical Texts (Durham Ritual) in A. H. Thompson & U. Lindelöf Rituale Ecclesiae Dunelmensis (1927) 13 Pacem habete, et deus dilectionis et pacis erit uobiscum : gie sibb habbað & god lufsumnis' & sibbes bið iuih mið.
c1175 (?OE) Instr. for Christians 27 in Anglia (1964) 82 12 Lytle hwile on þissere leana dagum witena eanig winnað for Criste, and eft swa ðeah in ecnesse gewunað in wuldre mid weroda Godd.
c1384 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(2)) (1850) 2 Cor. xiii. 11 Haue ȝe pees, and God of pees and loue [L. deus dilectionis et pacis] schal be with ȝou.
a1425 (a1400) Northern Pauline Epist. (1916) Rom. xv. 5 Alle thynges þat ben writen..in holy bokys..god of pacience and of solace [L. Deus autem patientiae et solacii] gife ȝou to sauere þat same.
1535 Bible (Coverdale) Rom. xv. 5 The God of pacience and consolacion.
1593 R. Hooker Of Lawes Eccl. Politie i. iii. 54 Who the guide of nature but only the God of nature?
1608 S. Hieron Helpe vnto Deuotion 88 O Eternall God, the God of prouidence, the orderer and the disposer of all things.
1611 Bible (King James) 1 Sam. ii. 3 The Lord is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed. View more context for this quotation
1738 J. Wesley Coll. Psalms & Hymns (new ed.) v. ii On Thee, O God of Purity, I wait for hallowing Grace.
1756 tr. F. X. de Oliveira Pathetic Disc. Calamities Portugal 3 He is, also, the God of Strength, the God of Vengeance.
1785 T. Lindsey Exam. Plea Divinity Jesus Christ ix. 153 To return to and acknowlege the God of nature, and the God of revelation, Jehovah.
1796 tr. J. B. Duvoisin Exam. Princ. French Revol. viii. 65 The God of Christianity is more present to the mind and the heart than the God of philosophy.
1813 W. Hurn Psalms & Hymns 283 The God of truth his church has bless'd.
1827 J. Keble Christian Year II. xcv. 172 O God of Mercy, God of Might.
1852 O. W. Wight tr. V. Cousin Course Hist. Mod. Philos. I. i. 117 I could accumulate quite as many passages against the God of pantheism.
1905 Year Bk. Central Conf. Amer. Rabbis 15 90 In the same degree as the God of Judaism differs from all other deities.
1960 Life 25 Apr. 125/3 (advt.) Perhaps this..must involve a relationship with a God of truth—and of love, of mercy, of justice.
2001 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 4 Oct. 27/4 And should the God of love and mercy be given credit for the anopheles mosquito, the schistosomiasis parasite, anthrax, smallpox, bubonic plague?
B. int.
Expressing strong feeling, esp. dismay, disgust, exasperation, or anxiety. Cf. earlier oh God, my God, etc., at Phrases 1e(a).
ΚΠ
1898 H. Macfall Wooings Jezebel Pettyfer xxxiii. 341 Gahd! it are kind o' skeery here.
1898 Argosy June 510 It's their lives or ours. God! I hope Ericsson is on the kee vee.
1912 R. Brooke Old Vicarage Grantchester (1916) 10 God! I will pack, and take a train, And get me to England once again!
1914 L. Woolf Wise Virgins xvi. 321 God! what a fool I've been.
1938 K. O'Brien Pray for Wanderer ix. 264 God! Was he taking leave of his senses?
1986 D. Potter Singing Detective v. 201 God! They all think they can write, don't they?
2011 S. Tyler & D. Dalton Does Noise in my Head bother You? iv. 121 Oh, fuck! Not this song again! God! Let's go snort some blow!

Phrases

P1. Exclamatory and parenthetic phrases expressing feeling or desire.
a. Phrases expressing dependence upon or grateful recognition of God's providence.
(a) by (also with, through) God's grace. Also by (also with, through) God's help, by (also with, through) God's assistance, by (also with, through) God's blessing, etc. [After post-classical Latin gratia Dei by the grace of god (see grace of God n.), auxiliante Deo God helping (8th cent. in a British source), and similar phrases.]
ΚΠ
eOE (Kentish) Charter: Lufu to Christ Church, Canterbury (Sawyer 1197) in F. E. Harmer Sel. Eng. Hist. Docs. 9th & 10th Cent. (1914) 7 Ic Ceolnoð mid Godes gefe ercebiscop mid Cristes rode tacne ðis festnie.
OE Rule St. Benet (Corpus Oxf.) Prol. 4 Swa eac Paulus þurh his mæran bodunge him sylfan nanes lofes ne tilade.., ðus cweþende: ‘Þurh Godes gife [L. Gratia Dei] ic eom þæt þæt ic eom.’
OE Charter: Bp. Oswald to Wulfgar (Sawyer 1327) in W. de G. Birch Cartularium Saxonicum (1893) III. 532 Ic on him be Godes bletsunga & be ure ægþer ge wuda ge on felda swa his boc him wisaþ.
a1225 (c1200) Vices & Virtues (1888) 35 Of hire we willeð sumdæl keðen be godes grace.
c1330 (?c1300) Bevis of Hampton (Auch.) l. 412 (MED) Y nam no truant, be godes grace!
?a1475 Ludus Coventriae (1922) 37 Forsothe, sere, be goddys grace I xal me kepe from all trespace.
a1513 W. Dunbar Poems (1998) I. 124 I sall, with Goddis grace, Keip his command.
1539 Bk. Ceremonies in J. Strype Eccl. Memorials (1721) I. ii. App. cix. 287 Then followeth the offertory, wherby we be learned to prepare our selves by Gods grace to be an acceptable oblation to him.
1622 R. Sanderson Two Serm. Boston i. 5 I shall by Gods assistance proceed..to enquire how farre the differences..agree with the present case.
1647 T. May Hist. Parl. ii. iv. 74 The most necessary effectual Means, through God's blessing, of removing those Iealousies and Differences.
1662 Bk. Common Prayer Catechism Yes verily; and by Gods help so I will.
1748 S. Richardson Clarissa III. li. 255 She has a poor opinion of the purity she compliments me with, if she thinks, that I am not, by God's grace, above temptation from this sex.
1771 T. Smollett Humphry Clinker I. 123 With God's assistance, I shall take care that my tail shall never rise up in judgment against me.
1828 Christian Jrnl. Aug. 225/2 They will have acquired that, for which they will, through God's grace, thank you.
1859 Ld. Tennyson Enid in Idylls of King 19 Here, by God's grace, is the one voice for me.
1886 R. L. Stevenson Kidnapped xx. 197 It was only by God's blessing that we were neither of us sun-smitten.
1935 T. S. Eliot Murder in Cathedral i. 22 Rebellious bishops..would have intercepted our letters... By God's grace aware of their prevision I sent my letters on another day.
1987 A. Djoleto Hurricane of Dust vii. 36 This is Ghana, but I'm still alive by God's grace.
2001 J. Boyle Galloway Street 216 I'll be away to Ameriky soon with God's help, and I'll have a big public house in Boston or Chicago, maybe.
(b) thank God (also † God thank: see thank n. 4a). Also God be thanked, God be praised ( praise God, praised be God), † loved be God (cf. love v.2 1a), etc. [After post-classical Latin Deo gratias, lit. ‘thanks to God’ (10th cent. as interjection), and similar phrases; compare Anglo-Norman merci Deu, Deu merci and Middle French Dieu merci, interjections (12th cent.). Compare Middle Dutch gotdanc, godanc, interjection (Dutch goddank).]
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > gratitude > [adverb] > thanking divine providence
God-thankc888
God be thanked1600
thank God1753
eOE King Ælfred tr. Gregory Pastoral Care (Hatton) (1871) Pref. 9 Uncuð hu longe ðær swæ gelærede biscepas sien, swæ swæ nu Gode ðonc wel hwær siendon.
OE tr. Abbo of St. Germain Sermo in Cena Domini (Corpus Cambr. 190) in D. Bethurum Homilies of Wulfstan (1957) 372 And ge, Gode þanc, nu todæg beoð eft underfangene on cyrcan swylce into neorxnawange for eowre behreowsunge.
a1200 MS Trin. Cambr. in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1873) 2nd Ser. 11 (MED) Unbileue..is aiware aleid and rihte leue arered, godeðonc.
c1300 St. Mary of Egypt (Laud) l. 175 in C. Horstmann Early S.-Eng. Legendary (1887) 266 I-blessed be god þat bringueth þe soule bote.
c1300 Havelok (Laud) (1868) 2005 Þus wolde þe theues me haue reft, But god-þank, he hauenet sure keft.
a1425 (c1333–52) L. Minot Poems (1914) 3 Bot, loued be God, þe pride es slaked Of þam [etc.].
a1500 (c1340) R. Rolle Psalter (Univ. Oxf. 64) (1884) cxii. §2. 398 Louyd be god fra this tyme of grace, that now is, whils this warldis standis, & withouten end.
c1515 Ld. Berners tr. Bk. Duke Huon of Burdeux (1882–7) xciii. 303 Syr, thanked be god we haue vaynquysshed the Emperoure.
1600 W. Shakespeare Much Ado about Nothing v. i. 183 You breake iests as braggards do their blades, which God be thanked hurt not. View more context for this quotation
1607 Merrie Iests George Peele 12 The fellowe told him God be praised his good Landlord was well recouered.
1645 J. Howell Epistolæ Ho-elianæ ii. i. 1 Thanke God I..am recovering and picking up my crummes apace.
1668 in A. Agnew Hist. Hereditary Sheriffs of Galloway (1864) 372 I Sir Andrew Agnew of Lochnaw Knyht Barronett, being, praised be God, in health and perfect memories.
1753 Scots Mag. July 320/2 Most of the landholders have now, thank God! abandoned that..religion.
1778 F. Burney Evelina I. xvi. 103 ‘Is not Madame Duval then with you?’ ‘With me! No,—thank God.’
1842 Ld. Tennyson Lady Clare in Poems (new ed.) II. 196 ‘O God be thank'd!’ said Alice the nurse, ‘That all comes round so just and fair.’
1888 W. H. H. Murray Doom of Mamelons i. 11 God be praised that I reckoned the course aright.
1898 H. Macfall Wooings Jezebel Pettyfer xxxi. 329Thank Gahd!’ she muttered, ‘the Lord have delivered she into my hands.’
1916 J. Buchan Greenmantle xxii. 305 Oh, god be thanked, it's our friends!
1963 E. Hyams New Statesman vii. 116 It is not, thank God, in the English character to face the fact that a man is a dismal failure and kick him out.
1986 B. Fussell I hear Amer. Cooking iii. xii. 210 I have made them perforce hours ahead and they were still, praise God, delicious.
1991 R. Davies Murther & Walking Spirits ii. xxi. 89 God be praised, Anna has made it!
(c) under God: as a secondary cause; as a secondary object of gratitude; with God's permission.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the supernatural > deity > Christian God > activities of God > [adverb] > second to God
under God1314
1314 ( Royal Charter: William I to Bp. Herman, Beorhtwig, Scewine, & all his Thegns in Dorset in D. Bates Regesta Regum Anglo-Normannorum (1998) 112 Ic cyðe eow ðæt se abbod æt Abbodesbyrig & ða gebroþra & ða land & ða men & æle [read ælc] ðara ðinga ðæt ðe hyrþ in to sancte Petres mynstre to Abbodesbirig ðæt hit ys eall on minne munde & on minan fullan gehealde under God, swa full & swa forþ swa hit ðeder in furþ Orc leg on Eadwardes dæge kyneges mines meges.
a1413 (c1385) G. Chaucer Troilus & Criseyde (Pierpont Morgan) (1882) iii. l. 619 O. Influences of þise heuenes hye. Soth is þat vnder god ye ben oure hierdes.
1532 (c1385) Usk's Test. Love in W. W. Skeat Chaucerian & Other Pieces (1897) 43 We men..arn a fayr parcel of the erthe and holden the upperest degree, under god, of benigne thinges.
1570 J. Kello Confessioun sig. A.viv I desyre nathing mair vnder God then to be separate fra the contagioun of this wickit flesche.
1607 Merrie Iests George Peele 10 Yet, quoth he, vnder God, I will doe him some good.
1619 in R. F. Williams Birch's Court & Times James I (1848) (modernized text) II. 170 The blessedness of this good work, under God, is to be attributed to the king alone.
1719 D. Defoe Farther Adventures Robinson Crusoe 23 He..thank'd me that had, under God, given him and so many miserable Creatures their Lives.
1777 H. H. Brackenridge Death Gen. Montgomery i. i. 14 Thus, under God, we haply may succeed.
1867 Amer. Q. Church Rev. Jan. 568 Every soul, under God, is to interpret Scripture for itself.
1944 J. R. R. Tolkien Let. 30 Apr. (1995) 76 Probable under God that we shall meet again, ‘in hale and in unity’, before very long.
1985 Third Way Apr. 13/2 One of its [sc. Government's] functions is, under God, to restrain evil.
2006 M. Novak & J. Novak Washington's God vi. 114 He felt deep within himself the pull, under God, of America's universal mission.
(d)
(i) if (also †and) God will. Also †will God, (regional) an Gothill, a Goddil.and God will was formerly sometimes used as an ironic apology. [After post-classical Latin Deo volente, lit. ‘God willing’ (see Deo volente n. and compare God willing at Phrases 1a(d)(ii)).]
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > belief > uncertainty, doubt, hesitation > possibility > subject to outside forces [phrase]
if (also and) God willc1300
will God1488
please the pigs1683
Deo volente1767
inshallah1857
the world > the supernatural > deity > Christian God > activities of God > [adverb] > God willing
if (also and) God willc1300
God willing1438
will God1488
Deo volente1767
D.V.1843
c1300 St. Julian Hospitable (Laud) l. 76 in C. Horstmann Early S.-Eng. Legendary (1887) 258 Ȝif god wole [a1325 Corpus Cambr. Ȝif Crist wole], þe ȝwyle we a-liue beoth, ne schulle we departi atwo.
c1330 Seven Sages (Auch.) (1933) l. 1540 (MED) I wil do bi þe, ȝif god wil.
1488 (c1478) Hary Actis & Deidis Schir William Wallace (Adv.) (1968–9) iv. l. 770 Will god I sall eschape this tresoune fals.
1542 T. Becon Newe Pathway vnto Praier xlvi. sig. R.ijv Monstures, Monckes I woulde haue sayd, & other religious parsons, and God wyll as they desyre to be called.
1790 A. Wheeler Westmorland Dial. 46 Ise feend tea a Maister a goddil.
1825 J. Jamieson Etymol. Dict. Sc. Lang. Suppl. Gothill, An Gothill, if God will... ‘In Gothill I'll be there’.
1893 J. Rhoades Teresa 23 You hear The guest knock loud for entrance; and anon The host will open, and to no mean fare Of iron entertainment, if God will, Give him such welcome as may pierce his heart.
1911 E. Nesbit Ballads & Verses of Spiritual Life 72 Bear up, my mother, yet a little while, And we shall see each other, if God will.
1994 Jet 4 July 46/2 Holyfield said his retirement soon might end. ‘If God will, I will,’ he added.
(ii) God willing.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the supernatural > deity > Christian God > activities of God > [adverb] > God willing
if (also and) God willc1300
God willing1438
will God1488
Deo volente1767
D.V.1843
1438 in W. Fraser Lennox (1874) II. 67 Jhone Stewart,..God wylland, sall haff to wyff..Margaret off Mongomry.
1507 in J. Stuart Extracts Council Reg. Aberdeen (1844) I. 77 The said Richerd sall, God willing, mend and reforme the stepill forsaid ennowe, and vteucht sufficiently and substanciusly in ale thingis as efferis.
1526 T. Wolsey in State Papers Henry VIII (1830) I. 184 The said realme may yet, God willing, be preserved and releved.
1588 ‘M. Marprelate’ Oh read ouer D. Iohn Bridges: Epist. 30 Naye (quoth Penrie) neuer so long as I liue godwilling.
1604 W. Shakespeare Hamlet i. v. 187 What so poore a man as Hamlet is, May doe t'expresse his loue..God willing shall not lack. View more context for this quotation
c1688 H. Herbert in R. Warner Epistolary Curiosities (1818) 1st Ser. 72 We both intend, God willing, to set forward for London on Munday next.
1706 W. Wycherley Let. to Pope in Pope's Lett. (1735) 25 Afterwards to spend two Months (God willing) with you, at Binfield.
1776 L. Carter Diary 26 Apr. (1965) II. 1027 This night I shall, god willing, part with my under waistcoat.
1835 J. W. Carlyle Lett. I. 25 Next year, God willing, I shall see you all again.
1880 Ld. Tennyson Ballads & Other Poems 119 The swine, lay-men, lay-women, who will come, God willing, to outlearn the filthy friar.
1944 C. Beaton Diary in Self Portrait with Friends (1979) xiv. 140 Tomorrow, God willing, is our last day of truck travel after banging over 700 miles in this old crock.
2010 New Yorker 2 Aug. 55/1 We love it here. God willing, I'll die here. God willing, not too soon.
(e) (and) God before (also tofore): under God's guidance. Obsolete. [Compare Godbefore in earlier use as the name of a ship (1338). Compare also Middle French Dieu devant, Dieu avant (a1393).]
ΘΚΠ
the world > the supernatural > deity > Christian God > activities of God > [adverb] > with God's help
(and) God before (also tofore)a1413
with God to friend1590
a1413 (c1385) G. Chaucer Troilus & Criseyde (Pierpont Morgan) (1881) i. l. 1042 And dredles yf þat my lyf may laste And god to-forn, lo som of hem shal smerte.
a1425 (?a1400) G. Chaucer Romaunt Rose (Hunterian) (1891) l. 7196 They shal neuere haue that myght And god to forne for strif to [perh. read ne] fight That they ne shal ynough fynde That petres lawe shal haue in mynde.
?c1450 tr. Bk. Knight of La Tour Landry (1906) 14 Diuerse exsaumples, the whiche, and God before, ye shall take hede of.
c1500 Melusine (1895) 128 For god before we tende & purpose to gyue bataylle to the Sawdan.
1533 J. Heywood Mery Play Pardoner & Frere sig. B.iv I wyll neuer come hether more Whyle I lyue and god before.
1594 T. Kyd tr. R. Garnier Cornelia iii. E 4 b Els (god to fore) my selfe may liue to see His tired corse lye toyling in his blood.
1600 W. Shakespeare Henry V i. ii. 307 For God before, weell check the Dolphin at his fathers doore.
1607 M. Drayton Legend Cromwel 36 For in my skill his sound recouerie lies, Doubt not thereof if setting God before.
(f) with God to friend: with God's help or protection. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the supernatural > deity > Christian God > activities of God > [adverb] > with God's help
(and) God before (also tofore)a1413
with God to friend1590
1590 E. Spenser Faerie Queene i. i. sig. A7 So forward on his way (with God to frend) He passed forth.
1823 W. Tennant Cardinal Beaton iv. i. 97 Accuser, I, with God to friend, appeal From this convention.
1874 A. C. Swinburne Bothwell iii. i. 248 Your heart of hope is great; with God to friend, A man could speed no better than your hope.
1901 D. Ainslie John of Damascus ii. 108 With the young, new god to friend all golden-haired prosperities may on my kingdom come again.
b. In earnest appeals or exhortations, as for (also †fore) God's love, for God's sake (also for God sake, for Godsake, for God's sakes), in (also †a, †o', †on) God's name. for the love of God: see love n.1 Phrases 1a(a). on God's half: see half n. Phrases 1b(c). [With in (also †a, †o', †on) God's name compare Anglo-Norman a nun deu in similar use (first half of the 14th cent. or earlier).]
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > speech > request > [phrase] > earnest expressions
for (also fore) God's loveeOE
for the love of GodeOE
for God's sakec1386
for (also of) all lovesa1400
for love's sakea1400
in (also a, o', on) God's namea1400
of all lovea1400
for pity1484
for pity's sake1484
eOE tr. Bede Eccl. Hist. (Tanner) iv. iii. 266 Ic þa la halsie & bidde fore Godes lufan [L. obsecro], þæt þu me gesecge hwæt se song wære.
OE Ælfric Catholic Homilies: 2nd Ser. (Cambr. Gg.3.28) Pref. 2 Nu bidde ic and halsige on godes naman gif hwa ðas boc awritan wylle, þæt he hi geornlice gerihte.
?a1300 Fox & Wolf l. 36 in G. H. McKnight Middle Eng. Humorous Tales (1913) 26 Be stille, ich hote, a godes nome!
c1325 (c1300) Chron. Robert of Gloucester (Calig.) 8968 Madame he sede uor godes loue is þis wel ido Þat þou þes vnclene limes handlest.
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 4798 Ga we alle, In godds nam.
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Gött.) l. 4800 I ȝou pray for goddes sake.
c1405 (c1387–95) G. Chaucer Canterbury Tales Prol. (Hengwrt) (2003) l. 854 What wel come be the Cut in goddes name.
1548 W. Patten Exped. Scotl. K viij These a Gods name wear their targettes again the shot of our small artillerie.
1583 C. Hollyband Campo di Fior 15 For God sake let not my tutor know it.
1597 W. Shakespeare Richard II ii. i. 252 But what a Gods name doth become of this? View more context for this quotation
1612 B. Jonson Alchemist v. iii. sig. L4 For Gods sake, when will her Grace be at leasure? View more context for this quotation
1650 A. Weldon Court & Char. King James 103 For God's sake, tel me, said the King.
1706 J. Stevens tr. M. de Cervantes Don Quixote (ed. 2) II. lxx. 408 Sleep o'God's Name..if thy Twitching, Pinching, and Pin-pricking will give thee leave.
1735 A. Pope Prol. to Satires in Wks. II. 101 Hold! for God-sake—you'll offend.
1799 C. B. Brown Ormond x. 108 What, in God's name, did she want with him at that hour? Could she not wait, at least, till he had done his supper?
1859 Ld. Tennyson Elaine in Idylls of King 173 For God's love, a little air!
1864 Ld. Tennyson Enoch Arden in Enoch Arden, etc. 28 For God's sake,..let it be at once.
1883 R. L. Gilchrist Apples of Sodom vi. 60 For God's sakes what is the matter?
1955 E. Hillary High Adventure 175 For God's sake, Charles, keep an eye on John!
1995 I. Banks Whit (1996) xiv. 234 Well, then, God's sakes, Isis!.. All the more reason to tell Salvador to take a hike!
2004 A. Levy Small Island ii. 22 Gilbert, what in God's name have you done?
c. Phrases expressive of a strong wish, chiefly for the benefit or injury of some person.
(a) With God as subject followed by a verb in the subjunctive.God bless, forbid, forfend, give, help, preserve, save, send, shield, speed, etc.: see the verbs. God rest you merry: see rest v.1 Phrases 3b. God give you good day, good even, etc.: see the noun phrases.In such phrases as have remained current, God is often omitted, as bless you, damn you, preserve us (see the verbs).
(i) Miscellaneous uses.
ΚΠ
OE Scribble (Tiber. B.v) in N. R. Ker Catal. MSS containing Anglo-Saxon (1957) 255 God me helpe.
OE Ælfric Let. to Wulfsige (Corpus Cambr.) in B. Fehr Die Hirtenbriefe Ælfrics (1914) 34 God geunne eow, þæt ge hit moton swa aredigan, swa eower þearf sy.
lOE Anglo-Saxon Chron. (Laud) (Peterborough interpolation) anno 1066 Syððon comen ealle dræuednysse & ealle ifele to þone mynstre. God hit gemyltse!
c1240 ( Writ of Edward the Confessor, Wells (Sawyer 1115) in S. E. Kelly Charters of Bath & Wells (2007) 231 And gyf anig man syg þat mine gyfe awendan wyllen, awende hine God almihgti fram his ansyne & fram ælre cristenne manna.
1389 in C. Innes Liber Sancte Marie de Melros (1837) 449 Dauid kyng qwhilom of Scotland, that god assoillie.
1447 in J. D. Marwick Charters Edinb. (1871) 68 Oure progenitouris of noble mynde quham God assoille.
c1480 (a1400) St. Theodora l. 201 in W. M. Metcalfe Legends Saints Sc. Dial. (1896) II. 105 God þe forȝelde, & fra wikyt forton þe schelde.
1487 (a1380) J. Barbour Bruce (St. John's Cambr.) xiii. l. 708 God grant that thai..maynteyme the land, And hald the folk weill to warrand.
c1525 J. Rastell New Commodye Propertes of Women sig. Aiv God reward the for thy gentyll intendyng.
1612 in R. F. Williams Birch's Court & Times James I (1848) (modernized text) I. 194 God keep them from base courses!
1649 Declar. Proc. Parl. Scotl. 3 God grant, that every good Christian may give his helping hand for the subverting the same.
1775 R. Challoner in E. H. Burton Life Bp. Challoner (1909) II. xxviii. 116 God reward the good Lady, our benefactrix.
1824 W. S. Landor Imaginary Conversat. II. xiii. 245 I wear an habitual sneer upon my face, God confound them for it!
1948 M. McLaverty in Irish Writing 4 37 But God grant he'd return to her in better form!
2010 J. O'Connor Ghost Light (2011) vii. 107 God keep your innocence, Miss. That it might always be your blessing.
(ii) God be with (also †mid) you: used as an expression of good wishes on parting. Cf. goodbye int. 1. Also as n.In quot. c1300 in the subscription of a charter.
ΚΠ
c1300 ( Royal Charter: William I to Bp. Æðelmær, Earl Ralph, & all his Thegns in Norfolk & Suffolk in D. Bates Regesta Regum Anglo-Normannorum (1998) 197 God be mid ihu.
1483 W. Caxton tr. J. de Voragine Golden Legende f. ccccxxix/1 Thys poure man departyng and sayeng god be wyth you and at your helpe.
1573 W. Smith XII. Mery Iests vii. sig. D.iiii Then farewel honycombe til I se you againe, God be with you, and shield you from the raine.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Macbeth (1623) iii. i. 45 While then, God be with you . View more context for this quotation
1637 T. Heywood Royall King iv God be with you good Captaine.
1797 T. Holcroft Adventures Hugh Trevor IV. v. 38 His parting reply was, ‘God be with you, wherever you go! Perhaps you may see me again sooner than you think for.’
1809 B. H. Malkin tr. A. R. Le Sage Adventures Gil Blas II. iv. viii. 180 A profusion of farewells and god-be-with-you's.
1868 Times 20 Oct. 4/5 As each railful of communicants quitted the Communion-table..he used to address to them..‘God be with you, my children’.
1936 M. R. Anand Coolie iv. 188 Go through there as if you were an ordinary person. God be with you.
1976 Ebony Jr. Mar. 39/2 When the time came for him to leave, his mother gave him a blessing and said, ‘God be with you’.
2005 J. M. Coetzee Slow Man xvi. 121 She has said her goodbyes, goodbyes are over with. Goodbye: God be with you.
(iii) God damn (a person or thing) (also goddam, goddamn): expressing condemnation of, or anger or frustration towards (a person or thing). Cf. damn v. 6, goddam int., Goddammit int.Earliest in God damn me int.
ΚΠ
1596 J. Harington Apol. sig. Mvi God damne me if I loue them not, I feare more to be damned for louing them too well.
1680 T. Blood Narr. conc. Design against Duke Buckingham 3 Is that the Blood that stole the Crown? God damn him, we will have nothing to do with him, for he is a great Friend of the Duke of Buckingham's.
1697 D. Defoe Ess. Projects 242 Go among the Gamesters, and there nothing is more frequent than, God damn the Dice, or God damn the Bowls.
1794 J. Kirkpatrick Libel before Presbytery of Kirkcudbright 4 You..most wickedly and obscenely expressed yourself in the following words..God damn Lady Hannay.
1861 A. G. Frick Let. 14 Feb. in H. Holzer Dear Mr. Lincoln (1993) x. 341 Abe Lincoln..goddam you.
1864 Cincinnati Enquirer 4 Mar. 2/5 God damn you, I led this whole thing.
1938 ‘C. S. Forester’ Ship of Line 51 God damn and blast all you hamfisted yokels.
1964 J. Thompson Pop. 1280 xiii. 71 Goddam him to hell, anyway!
1993 J. Mowry Six out Seven i. xi. 162 God damn that dogfuckin ole peckerwood bastard!
(b) In forms with the verb (and sometimes other elements) abbreviated or altered.See also goodbye n., int., and adj.
(i) With omission (or alteration) of give, in customary expressions of good wishes on meeting or parting, as God you good day, God you good even (also God dig-you-den, goddiggonden, goddy-godden, Godge you good even, Godgigoden, Godigoden), God you good morn, God you good morrow (also Godyegudmora, Godge you God morrow), God you good night. Cf. give v. 3b, 17. Obsolete.Cf. also good day n. 1, good even n. 1, good morn int., good morrow n. 1, goodnight n. 1.
ΚΠ
1535 D. Lindsay Satyre 4319 Gif ȝe be King, God ȝow gude day.
1535 W. Stewart tr. H. Boethius Bk. Cron. Scotl. (1858) II. 636 The Thane of Caldar, Schir, God ȝow gude morne!
1597 W. Shakespeare Romeo & Juliet i. ii. 57 Godgigoden, I pray sir can you read. View more context for this quotation
1597 W. Shakespeare Romeo & Juliet ii. iii. 102 Nur: God ye goodmorrow Gentlemen. Mer: God ye good den faire Gentlewoman. Nur: Is it godyegooden I pray you. Mer: Tis no lesse I assure you, for the baudie hand of the diall is euen now vpon the pricke of noone. View more context for this quotation
1598 W. Shakespeare Love's Labour's Lost iv. i. 42 God dig-you-den al. View more context for this quotation
1605 S. Rowley When you see Me sig. D2 Godyegodnight and twentie syr.
1611 G. Chapman May-day i. 8 Godge you God morrow Sir, godge you God morrow.
1631 B. Jonson Bartholmew Fayre i. iv. 7 in Wks. II By your leaue, Gentlemen, with all my heart to you: and god you good morrow.
1640 N. Richards Trag. Messallina iv. sig. E5v Godge godden I'le come agen anon.
1651 T. Randolph et al. Hey for Honesty iv. iii. 33/2 Goddy-godden, good father: pray which is the house where Plutus lives.
1671 tr. A. H. de Mendoza To love only for Love Sake ii. 64 Zel. Yow (th'unkent Knight) Godyegudmora! Fel. (The Time of day thou dost mistake).
(ii) With contraction of save (cf. save v. Phrases 2c), as †Gods me, †Gods my bones, Gods my life, etc. Cf. God sa' me at sa' v. Now archaic.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > malediction > oaths > [interjection] > religious oaths (referring to God) > miscellaneous
depardieuc1290
by God's namec1330
by God's roodc1330
by God's eyes1340
God's soul1345
for God's sakec1386
cock's soulc1405
God's armsc1405
by God's dooma1425
(by) (God's) nailsa1500
by God's fast?1515
God's lord?1520
God's sacramenta1529
God's dominusc1530
by God's crown1535
God's bread1535
God's gown1535
God's guts1543
of God's word?1550
God's hat1569
Gods me1570
marry (a) Godc1574
God's malt1575
God's ludd?1577
God's sacring?1577
God's sokinges?1577
trunnion?1577
(by) God's will1579
God's teeth1580
'Shearta1596
God's light1598
by God's me1599
'Snails1599
'Slight1600
God's diggers1602
'Swill1602
od's mea1616
od's my lifea1616
'Sprecious1631
'Sbores1640
odso1660
for sake('s) sake1665
Gad's precious1677
heartlikins1677
od1681
'Sdiggers1687
(Lord) love you (also your heart)1707
God's fury1748
heartikins1751
S'fire1791
nom de Dieu1848
'strewth1892
Lord lumme1895
lumme1898
the mind > mental capacity > expectation > surprise, unexpectedness > exclamation of surprise [interjection]
whatOE
well, wellOE
avoyc1300
ouc1300
ay1340
lorda1393
ahaa1400
hillaa1400
whannowc1450
wow1513
why?1520
heydaya1529
ah1538
ah me!a1547
fore me!a1547
o me!a1547
what the (also a) goodyear1570
precious coals1576
Lord have mercy (on us)1581
good heavens1588
whau1589
coads1590
ay me!1591
my stars!a1593
Gods me1595
law1598
Godso1600
to go out1600
coads-nigs1608
for mercy!a1616
good stars!1615
mercy on us (also me, etc.)!a1616
gramercy1617
goodness1623
what next?1662
mon Dieu1665
heugh1668
criminy1681
Lawd1696
the dickens1697
(God, etc.) bless my heart1704
alackaday1705
(for) mercy's sake!1707
my1707
deuce1710
gracious1712
goodly and gracious1713
my word1722
my stars and garters!1758
lawka1774
losha1779
Lord bless me (also you, us, etc.)1784
great guns!1795
mein Gott1795
Dear me!1805
fancy1813
well, I'm sure!1815
massy1817
Dear, dear!1818
to get off1818
laws1824
Mamma mia1824
by crikey1826
wisha1826
alleleu1829
crackey1830
Madonna mia1830
indeed1834
to go on1835
snakes1839
Jerusalem1840
sapristi1840
oh my days1841
tear and ages1841
what (why, etc.) in time?1844
sakes alive!1846
gee willikers1847
to get away1847
well, to be sure!1847
gee1851
Great Scott1852
holy mackerel!1855
doggone1857
lawsy1868
my wig(s)!1871
gee whiz1872
crimes1874
yoicks1881
Christmas1882
hully gee1895
'ullo1895
my hat!1899
good (also great) grief!1900
strike me pink!1902
oo-er1909
what do you know?1909
cripes1910
coo1911
zowiec1913
can you tie that?1918
hot diggety1924
yeow1924
ziggety1924
stone (or stiffen) the crows1930
hullo1931
tiens1932
whammo1932
po po po1936
how about that?1939
hallo1942
brother1945
tie that!1948
surprise1953
wowee1963
yikes1971
never1974
to sod off1976
whee1978
mercy1986
yipes1989
1570 T. North tr. A. F. Doni Morall Philos. iii. f. 62 But hearest thou me, Gods my bones not a word for thy life [no direct equivalent in It. original].
1595 G. Peele Old Wiues Tale sig. Bv Gods me bones who comes here?
1600 W. Shakespeare Midsummer Night's Dream iv. i. 201 Gods my life! Stolne hence, and left mee a sleepe. View more context for this quotation
1601 B. Jonson Every Man in his Humor iii. iv. sig. G4v God's my life; did you euer heare the like? View more context for this quotation
1605 G. Chapman Al Fooles iii. i. E 3 b Gods my deare soule, what sudden change is here!
1606 J. Day Ile of Guls sig. D4 Godsme, my mothers stealing of a nap.
1607 T. Heywood Woman Kilde with Kindnesse sig. Fv Gods me: no such dispatch.
1640 tr. G. S. du Verdier Love & Armes Greeke Princes ii. 191 Gods me, said Trasiclea.
1950 W. Graham Jeremy Poldark i. iii. 48God's my life,’ said Francis. ‘What a pesky wind. One is blown down this alley like a pea down a pipe.’
1992 P. O'Brian Truelove (1993) iv. 112 God's my life, Stephen, you absolutely turned a somersault.
(iii) God dild, God dylde, God eyld, God ild, goddilge: God yield (you, him, etc.): see yield v. 7a. Obsolete.
ΚΠ
1575 W. Stevenson Gammer Gurtons Nedle v. ii. sig. Ei Baily. God blesse you gammer Gurton. Gammer. God dylde you master mine.
1579 G. Harvey Let. to Spenser in Wks. (1884) I. 24 Youre Latine Farewell is a goodly braue yonkerly peece of work, and goddilge yee, I am alwayes maruellously beholding vnto you, for your bountifull Titles.
1592 T. Nashe Pierce Penilesse (Huntington Libr. copy) sig. L3 No forsooth God dild you hee would not that hee would.
1608 G. Chapman Conspiracie Duke of Byron v. (ad fin.) Marry God dild him.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Macbeth (1623) i. vi. 13 How you shall bid God-eyld vs for your paines. View more context for this quotation
a1616 W. Shakespeare Hamlet (1623) iv. v. 41 How do ye, pretty Lady? Ophe. Well, God dil'd [1603 yeeld] you.
d. In phrases referring to God's omniscience.
(a) God (it) wot: God knows. Cf. goddot int. [Compare Dutch godeweet (interjection) truly; compare also early use as a surname: Thomas Godwot (1328), John Godwot (1371).]
(i) Used with an indirect question to imply that something is unknown to the speaker, and probably to any other human being. Obsolete.In quot. OE as God āna wāt: ‘God alone knows’.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > want of knowledge, ignorance > that which is unknown > [phrase] > expressing lack of knowledge
God wotOE
God or Crist witec1175
Lord knows1614
Heaven knowsa1628
the stars know what (also how, etc.)1760
OE Fortunes of Men 8 God ana wat hwæt him weaxendum winter bringað.
a1400 in F. J. Furnivall Polit., Relig., & Love Poems (1903) 263 (MED) Deȝe we ssulin sikerliche, bot god wot wanne & were.
1489 (a1380) J. Barbour Bruce (Adv.) i. l. 586 Oft failȝeis the fulis thocht And wys mennys etling Cummys nocht ay to that ending That thai think it sall cum to For God wate weill quhat is to do.
1569 R. Grafton Chron. II. 765 Sent, no man wist whether, to be done wyth, God wot what.
1646 G. Buck Hist. Life Richard III iii. 85 Their bodies were bestowed God wot where.
(ii) Used to emphasize the truth of a statement. Now archaic (chiefly in echoes of quot. 1893).
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > truthfulness, veracity > [adverb] > as emphasis
God (it) wot?c1225
goddot?a1289
sooth to sayc1330
truth (also sooth) to tella1375
honestly1819
honest Indian1854
truthfully1854
honest Injun1857
on the level1872
straight1874
honest1876
square dinkum1888
no kidding1901
straight-up1963
OE St. Mary of Egypt (Julius) (2002) 84 God wat þæt ic heora forhtige.]
?c1225 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Cleo. C.vi) (1972) 93 God hit wat þe put deð muche god. moni ancre.
c1300 Havelok (Laud) (1868) 2527 Þer-of held he wel his oth, For he it made, god it woth.
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Gött.) l. 4473 God wat..I sal vndo þe wele þi sueuen.
a1529 J. Skelton Colyn Cloute (?1545) sig. A.vii Than renne they in euery stede God wot with dronken nolles.
1568 (a1500) Freiris Berwik 61 in W. T. Ritchie Bannatyne MS (1930) IV. 263 He went fra hame god wait on weddinsday.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Richard III (1623) ii. iii. 18 Stood the State so? No, no, good friends, God wot [1597 not so].
a1617 P. Baynes Comm. Ephes. (1643) i. 214 Commonly the most Christians are counted good men godwot, but simple soules, of no parts.
1859 Ld. Tennyson Elaine in Idylls of King 157 God wot, his shield is blank enough.
1893 T. E. Brown My Garden in Old John & Other Poems 177 A garden is a lovesome thing, God wot!
1905 A. C. Swinburne Poems III. 134 For all my subtle wiles, perdie, God wot I loved him well enow.
1938 K. A. Porter Let. 21 Nov. (1990) 168 A provincial Rotary-club-minded University is a fearsome spot, God wot.
1996 Church Times 19 Jan. 11/1 The idea that a bishop is an awesome thing God wot.
(b) God knows. [Compare post-classical Latin novit Deus (14th cent. in British sources).]
(i) Used to emphasize the truth of a statement.
ΚΠ
a1485 H. Baradoun in F. J. Furnivall Polit., Relig., & Love Poems (1903) 289 In the courte, is many noble Roome; But god knowith, I can noon soche cacche.
a1555 N. Ridley in M. Coverdale Certain Lett. Martyrs (1564) 77 It is impossible to set forth..al yt was (God knoweth) tumultuously spoken.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Comedy of Errors (1623) v. i. 230 The Chaine, Which God he knowes, I saw not. View more context for this quotation
1664 S. Pepys Diary 25 Nov. (1971) V. 330 God knows, this is only a scare to the Parliament, to make them give the more money.
1752 C. Lennox Female Quixote I. ii. xi. 156 God knows I never thought of such a Thing!
1788 R. Burns Let. 21 Jan. (2001) I. 215 Lately I was a sixpenny private; and, God knows, a miserable soldier enough.
1805 E. Cavanagh Let. 4 Oct. in M. Wilmot & C. Wilmot Russ. Jrnls. (1934) ii. 185 An Army, God knows, might live unknownst in the House!
1915 H. James Let. 23–24 Mar. in H. James & E. Wharton Lett. (1990) vi. 331 The money is, God knows, assistingly spendable here!
1930 W. S. Maugham Breadwinner ii. 101 God knows, it's been an uphill job, but I've done my best.
2008 Independent 1 Apr. 3/2 We are not prudes, God knows, and we have no problem with vigorous language, where appropriate.
(ii) Used with an indirect question (frequently with anaphoric reference) to imply that something is unknown to the speaker, and probably to any other human being.
ΚΠ
1532 T. More Confut. Tyndales Answere Pref. sig. Bb.iv And what wyll ferther come theron god knoweth.
1548 F. Bryan tr. A. de Guevara Dispraise Life Courtier xv. sig. L.ii God knowes what suche libertie costeth them.
1569 R. Grafton Chron. II. 98 The sayd John was had after in great suspicion, whether iustly or vniustly God knoweth.
1584 A. Munday Watch-woord to Eng. f. 13 Priuilie thus murdered, their bodies cast God knowes where.
1595 G. Aleyn Let. 21 Sept. in G. Ungerer Spaniard in Eliz. Eng. (1976) II. 42 Promising to send him the reste God knowes when.
1659 Maze 85 They may inherit, true; but God knowes when.
1665 A. Cowley Let. 21 May in S. Johnson Pref. Wks. Eng. Poets (1779) I. 35 What this signifies, or may come to in time, God knows.
a1708 T. Ward England's Reformation (1710) i. 86 His Soul departed, God knows where.
1793 C. Smith Old Manor House II. xi. 255 God knows what will become of your unhappy brother.
1877 19th Cent. Nov. 582 [The sisters] now forlornly resident in the house of a merchant banker in Bucharest..—outraged by God knows what ruffiandom of uncounted Bulgarians.
1899 E. Robins Open Question xxxvi. 522 ‘You who wanted to go to China and Persia, and God knows where!’ ‘Well, I am going—God knows where.’
1920 S. Lewis Main St. iv. 50 These suffragettes and God knows what all buttinskis there are that are trying to tell a business man how to run his business.
1940 ‘N. Shute’ Landfall 198 ‘How long have they been doing this?’ ‘God knows. We've only just cottoned on to it.’
2005 D. Nicholls Understudy 193 He wears these annoying aviator sunglasses all the time... God knows why.
(iii) With a verbless indirect question forming a phrase denoting an unknown person, thing, or place.
ΚΠ
1801 Monthly Mag. May 356/1 Forming God knows what, and consisting of God knows whom!
1822 Ld. Byron Werner iv. i. 51 The country..Is over-run with—God knows who.
1823 Ld. Byron Don Juan: Canto IX lxvii. 38 They fell in love;—She with his face, His grace, his God-knows-what.
1939 N. Monsarrat This is Schoolroom i. 35 A crusade against God-knows-what which would finish up God-knew-where.
1971 K. Tynan Let. 21 May (1994) vii. 493 I look yearningly at the phone and realise that you are out at the ballet with God knows whom.
2004 Washington Post 23 Sept. (Home ed.) c7/3 Tips garnered from God-knows-where by a partisan wack job in Texas.
e.
(a) In the vocative with an interjection or modifier, used to express strong feeling, esp. astonishment or dismay, as ah God, oh God, my God, good God, etc.Cf. sense B., migod int., omigod int.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > passion > expression of strong feeling [interjection]
oh God1340
oh1533
good Godc1595
arrah1703
my God1812
oh my days1841
the mind > emotion > excitement > exclamation of excitement [interjection]
oh God1340
good Godc1595
woo-hoo1697
my God1812
whee1920
cowabunga1954
yipes1955
phwoar?1976
yahoo1976
wahey1979
1340 Ayenbite (1866) 92 (MED) A god, hou hi byeþ foles!
a1413 (c1385) G. Chaucer Troilus & Criseyde (Pierpont Morgan) (1881) ii. l. 127 Ye holy god quod she what þyng is that.
1508 Golagros & Gawane (Chepman & Myllar) sig. avi Hevinly god said the heynd how happynis this thing.
1573 New Custome ii. iii. sig. C ivv Preciouse God it frettes mee to the very gall.
c1595 Countess of Pembroke Psalme lxxviii. 125 in Coll. Wks. (1998) II. 110 And yet (good god) how ofte this crooked kind Incenst him in the desert euery where?
1607 T. Heywood Woman Kilde with Kindnesse sig. B3v O God: a surgion there.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Henry VI, Pt. 3 (1623) ii. v. 61 Who's this? Oh God! It is my Fathers face.
1741 E. F. Haywood Anti-Pamela 229 Good God! cry'd he, what a Fiend must this be under an Angel's Form!
1795 S. T. Coleridge Lett. (1895) 148 O God! that such a mind should fall in love with that low, dirty, gutter-grubbing trull, Worldly Prudence!
1812 T. Amyot Some Acct. Life W. Windham I. 134 In which the words, ‘My God!’ had been made use of on a light occasion.
1856 Ld. Tennyson Maud (rev. ed.) xv, in Maud & Other Poems (new ed.) 8 Ah God, as he used to rave.
1894 Midland Monthly Mar. 252 My God, but she looks old!
1926 J. M. March Wild Party (1928) ii. i. 35 My god, Queenie; you're looking swell!
1951 G. Heyer Quiet Gentleman xviii. 252 You haven't seen the fellow! Valet! Good God, one would as lief employ a coal heaver!
1953 D. Thomas Let. 28 July (1987) 907 Dear God, we'd better not become any better friends.
1992 R. Harris Fatherland iii. 148 God in heaven, can you imagine what the foreign press would make of this?
2006 D. Trussoni Falling through Earth (2007) xiii. 240 Yikes! Yikes! O my God!
(b) In phrases intensifying a wish or aspiration. Chiefly Scottish in God gif, God nor: would to God that. Cf. give v. 3b, nor conj.3 2. Obsolete.
ΚΠ
a1500 R. Henryson tr. Æsop Fables: Fox, Wolf, & Cadger l. 2121 in Poems (1981) 81 Than said the vollf, ‘Nou God nor that I hang!’
a1513 W. Dunbar Poems (1998) I. 197 God gif ȝe war Iohne Thomsounis man.
1535 D. Lindsay Satyre 1325 God nor my trewker mence ane ledder.
1570 in J. Cranstoun Satirical Poems Reformation (1891) I. xxii. 50 O monstrous bird! God nor ye gleddis ȝe [= thee] get.
1572 (a1500) Taill of Rauf Coilȝear (1882) 737 Greit God! gif I war now..Vpon the mure.
1600 W. Shakespeare Much Ado about Nothing iv. i. 307 O God that I were a man. View more context for this quotation
1608 in J. D. Marwick Extracts Rec. Burgh Glasgow (1876) I. 296 In saying: God nor he be brunt in the playing place as Mergrat Park wes.
a1713 A. Pitcairne Assembly (1722) ii. i. 24 God nor the D'ill blaw me i' the Air.
(c) would God: see will v.1 Phrases 3. (I) would to God: see will v.1 4a.
f. God pays (also God to pay): expressing indifference to the consequences of one's action. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > indifference > [phrase] > expression of indifference
what reck?a1513
a foutre for1600
God pays1605
san fairy ann1919
for all I care1934
so what?1934
(I, etc.) couldn't care less1946
see if I care1947
(I, etc.) could care less1966
1605 London Prodigall C 1 b There be some that bares a souldiers forme, That..Goes swaggering vp and downe from house to house, crying God payes.
1616 B. Jonson Epigrammes xii, in Wks. I. 772 His onely answere is to all, god payes.
a1637 B. Jonson Masque of Owles 133 in Wks. (1640) III Whom since they have shipt away: And left him God to pay.
P2. In other phrases referring to a single Supreme Being.
a. to go to God.
(a) To die and go to heaven. Also to depart to God. In early use also †to fere (or i-wite) to God. Cf. to pass to God at pass v. 6a.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > death > [verb (intransitive)]
forsweltc888
sweltc888
adeadeOE
deadc950
wendeOE
i-wite971
starveOE
witea1000
forfereOE
forthfareOE
forworthc1000
to go (also depart , pass, i-wite, chare) out of this worldOE
queleOE
fallOE
to take (also nim, underfo) (the) deathOE
to shed (one's own) blood?a1100
diec1135
endc1175
farec1175
to give up the ghostc1175
letc1200
aswelta1250
leavea1250
to-sweltc1275
to-worthc1275
to yield (up) the ghost (soul, breath, life, spirit)c1290
finea1300
spilla1300
part?1316
to leese one's life-daysa1325
to nim the way of deathc1325
to tine, leave, lose the sweatc1330
flit1340
trance1340
determinec1374
disperisha1382
to go the way of all the eartha1382
to be gathered to one's fathers1382
miscarryc1387
shut1390
goa1393
to die upa1400
expirea1400
fleea1400
to pass awaya1400
to seek out of lifea1400–50
to sye hethena1400
tinea1400
trespass14..
espirec1430
to end one's days?a1439
decease1439
to go away?a1450
ungoc1450
unlivec1450
to change one's lifea1470
vade1495
depart1501
to pay one's debt to (also the debt of) naturea1513
to decease this world1515
to go over?1520
jet1530
vade1530
to go westa1532
to pick over the perch1532
galpa1535
to die the death1535
to depart to God1548
to go home1561
mort1568
inlaikc1575
shuffle1576
finish1578
to hop (also tip, pitch over, drop off, etc.) the perch1587
relent1587
unbreathe1589
transpass1592
to lose one's breath1596
to make a die (of it)1611
to go offa1616
fail1623
to go out1635
to peak over the percha1641
exita1652
drop1654
to knock offa1657
to kick upa1658
to pay nature her due1657
ghost1666
to march off1693
to die off1697
pike1697
to drop off1699
tip (over) the perch1699
to pass (also go, be called, etc.) to one's reward1703
sink1718
vent1718
to launch into eternity1719
to join the majority1721
demise1727
to pack off1735
to slip one's cable1751
turf1763
to move off1764
to pop off the hooks1764
to hop off1797
to pass on1805
to go to glory1814
sough1816
to hand in one's accounts1817
to slip one's breatha1819
croak1819
to slip one's wind1819
stiffen1820
weed1824
buy1825
to drop short1826
to fall (a) prey (also victim, sacrifice) to1839
to get one's (also the) call1839
to drop (etc.) off the hooks1840
to unreeve one's lifeline1840
to step out1844
to cash, pass or send in one's checks1845
to hand in one's checks1845
to go off the handle1848
to go under1848
succumb1849
to turn one's toes up1851
to peg out1852
walk1858
snuff1864
to go or be up the flume1865
to pass outc1867
to cash in one's chips1870
to go (also pass over) to the majority1883
to cash in1884
to cop it1884
snuff1885
to belly up1886
perch1886
to kick the bucket1889
off1890
to knock over1892
to pass over1897
to stop one1901
to pass in1904
to hand in one's marble1911
the silver cord is loosed1911
pip1913
to cross over1915
conk1917
to check out1921
to kick off1921
to pack up1925
to step off1926
to take the ferry1928
peg1931
to meet one's Maker1933
to kiss off1935
to crease it1959
zonk1968
cark1977
to cark it1979
to take a dirt nap1981
OE Ælfric Catholic Homilies: 2nd Ser. (Cambr. Gg.3.28) xxxii. 277 Se cyning Eglippus leofode his lif on eawfæstre drohtnunge, and on fulre ylde ferde to Gode.
OE Ælfric Lives of Saints (Julius) (1881) I. 330 He awrat his godspell on Achaian lande, and gewat to Gode mid ðam halgan gaste afylled, ða þa he wæs on ylde feower and hundeahtatig geara.
c1400 Brut (Rawl. B. 171) 134 Seynt Edward was gone oute of þis worlde, & was gone to God.
1468 in C. L. Kingsford Stonor Lett. & Papers (1919) I. 97 (MED) My ffadyr is gone to God also..my modyr on Saterday by the morne, and my ffadyr on Munday by [d]ayrove.
1548 Hall's Vnion: Henry VI f. ciiii Thomas duke of Excester, late departed to God.
1587 A. Fleming et al. Holinshed's Chron. (new ed.) III. Contin. 1339/1 Tone gone to God,..still reigning tother.
1642 Times Alterations (single sheet) Windeb. What is become of the great Lord Deputy? Finch. Faith, the report goes that he is gon to God without a head.
1784 London Mag. May 405/1 Mother will have one mouth less to feed when I go to God Almighty.
1849 C. Brontë Let. 4 June (2000) II. 216 Her quiet—Christian death did not rend my heart as Emily's stern, simple, undemonstrative end did—I let Anne go to God and felt He had a right to her.
1874 P. de Rivières Holy Places i. vii. 67 Hardly are the Lawgiver and his brother in sight of the grand panorama.., when their souls depart to God.
1976 W. Stegner Spectator Bird i. iii. 38 Maybe, in her piety and wretchedness, she had insisted on seeing her husband go to God.
2003 Church Times 20 June 32/4 Our little district nurse now gone to God.
(b) Law. Of a cause, trial, etc.: to be dismissed from court indefinitely. Obsolete. [After Anglo-Norman and Law French aler a dieu (late 13th cent. or earlier).]
ΚΠ
1607 J. Cowell Interpreter sig. Kk3v/1 Goe, is vsed sometime in a speciall signification in our common lawe: as to go to God, is to be dismissed the court. [Hence in later dictionaries.]
b. with God: dead, deceased; in heaven. In early use also †mid God.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > death > dead person or the dead > [adjective]
deadOE
lifelessOE
of lifeOE
storvena1225
dead as a door-nail1362
ydead1387
stark deadc1390
colda1400
bypast1425
perishedc1440
morta1450
obita1450
unquickc1449
gone?a1475
dead and gone1482
extinct1483
departed1503
bygonea1522
amort1546
soulless1553
breathless1562
parted1562
mortified1592
low-laid1598
disanimate1601
carcasseda1603
defunct1603
no morea1616
with God1617
death-stricken1618
death-strucken1622
expired1631
past itc1635
incinerated1657
stock-dead1662
dead as a herring1664
death-struck1688
as dead as a nit1789
(as) dead as mutton1792
low1808
laid in the locker1815
strae-dead1820
disanimated1833
ghosted1834
under the daisies1842
irresuscitable1843
under the sod1847
toes up1851
dead and buried1863
devitalized1866
translated1869
dead and done (for, with)1886
daid1890
bung1893
(as) dead as the (or a) dodo1904
six feet under1942
brown bread1969
OE Ælfric Lives of Saints (Julius) (1881) I. 114 And hi ealle nu mid Gode on ecnysse blyssiað.
lOE St. Margaret (Corpus Cambr.) (1994) 170 And nu hi is mid Gode and mid eallum his halgum, and þær hi wunað nu and æfre wunian sceal in ealra worulda woruld a buton ænde.
c1390 in C. Horstmann Minor Poems Vernon MS (1892) i. 251 Heoren is þe Ioye euerlastonde Wiþ god and wiþ godus sonde.
?1550 L. Ridley Expos. Epist. St. Paule to Philippians i. sig. E.iiii The soules of good men departed this lyfe are with god and with Christe in ioye blysse peace refresshynge comforte and in rest.
1617 in R. F. Williams Birch's Court & Times James I (1848) II. 51 As due to his memory, who is with God.
1651 T. Fuller Abel Redevivus Ep. to Rdr. sig. A3v Doctor Featly, now at rest with God.
1748 S. Richardson Clarissa VII. lxxxvi. 305 Many letters..from the three reverend gentlemen, Dr. Blome, Mr. Arnold, and Mr. Tompkins, now with God.
1841 E. Churton Early Eng. Church xv. 273 Thou, who art now with God, canst best tell whether in committing it to me thou wast deceived.
1907 Friend 22 June 397/2 I have both a sight and earnest of eternal rest with God.
1937 Rotarian May 46/1 My father was an orthodox Baptist minister. He was a good man, and is now with God.
1996 Church Times 23 Feb. 20/4 I think of Helen and her sister—now with God.
c. In proverbs and proverbial phrases.as sure as God made little apples: see apple n. Phrases 6. man proposes, (but) God disposes: see propose v. 1a. the mills of God grind slowly, yet they grind exceeding small: mill n.1 Phrases 6. the nearer the church, the farther from God: see church n.1 and adj. Phrases 1.
ΚΠ
a1325 (c1250) Prov. Hendyng (Cambr.) iv, in Anglia (1881) 4 182 (MED) He is iblessid oso goddis mowþe, Þat god craft lernit in is ȝougthe.
c1450 MS Douce 52 in Festschrift zum XII. Neuphilologentage (1906) 45 Helpe God and haue alle..Spende, and God wyl sende; Spare, and euere bare.
a1500 (?c1450) Merlin xxvii. 524 Ther-fore is seide a proverbe, that god will haue saued, no man may distroye.
c1515 Ld. Berners tr. Bk. Duke Huon of Burdeux (1882–7) cxxx. 480 It is a comune prouerbe sayde, ‘whome that god wyll ayde, no man can hurt’.
1545 R. Ascham Toxophilus ii. f. 17 He maye..haue cause to saye so of his fletcher, as..is communelye spoken of Cookes:..that God sendeth vs good fethers, but the deuyll noughtie Fletchers.
1546 J. Heywood Dialogue Prouerbes Eng. Tongue ii. v. sig. H Spend, & god shall sende..saith thold balet.
1546 J. Heywood Dialogue Prouerbes Eng. Tongue i. xii. sig. Eivv God is where he was.
1600 W. Shakespeare Much Ado about Nothing ii. i. 20 It is saide, God sends a curst cow short hornes. View more context for this quotation
1667 A. Cowley Garden in J. Wells Poems Divers Occasions 2 God the first Garden made, & the first City, Cain.
1721 N. Bailey Universal Etymol. Eng. Dict. (at cited word) As sure as God's in Gloucestershire.
1768 L. Sterne Sentimental Journey II. 175 God tempers the wind, said Maria, to the shorn lamb.
1822 W. Scott Fortunes of Nigel III. iii. 79 The homely proverb, that men taunt my calling with—‘God sends good meat, but the devil sends cooks’.
1855 Harper's Mag. June 66/2 They would meet the emergency with the energy of faith and hope, knowing that God helps those who help themselves.
1912 Spectator 18 May 788/2 In the wisdom of the West..the necessity for hard work and for initiative is continually emphasised. ‘God gives the milk, but not the pail’, is typical of many sayings of the people.
1953 A. Huxley Let. 17 Aug. (1969) 683 It is to appear serially—of all places—in Esquire—which is at present engaged in serving God and Mammon.
1991 A. Beevor Inside Brit. Army (rev. ed.) p. xiiiGod helps those who help themselves,’ said an infantry brigadier in the Ministry of Defence, dismissing any sympathy for understrength battalions.
d. year of God: a particular year ( a.d.). Usually in in the year of God: = Anno Domini adv. Now somewhat rare and chiefly historical. [After post-classical Latin anno domini, lit. ‘in the year of the Lord’ (see Anno Domini adv.); compare earlier the year of our Lord God at lord n. and int. Phrases 2a.]
ΚΠ
1473–4 in T. Dickson Accts. Treasurer Scotl. (1877) I. 1 The ferd day of the moneth of August, the ȝere of God etc. lxxiij ȝeris.
1542 tr. A. Geuffroy Order Greate Turckes Courte sig. g.i.v Mehemet the first of his name..dyed in the yere of God .M.cccc.xviij [Fr. mourut lan mil quatre cens dishuict].
a1600 R. Lindsay Hist. & Cron. Scotl. (1899) I. 99 The battell was strikin wpoun the Assentioun day in the ȝeir of god Im iiijc liij ȝeiris.
a1693 in Sc. Presbyterian Eloquence (1738) 129 I have been this Year of God preaching against the Vanity of Women.
1703 J. Brand Brief Descr. Orkney, Zetland xi. 155 l found the year of God upon the Lintel of a window in Castle-Sinclar to be 1607.
1816 W. Scott Antiquary II. viii. 221 Richard, called the Red-handed Wardour,..brought the castle and estate into the name of Wardour, in the year of God 1150.
1867 A. M. Bell Lect. Conveyancing I. iii. i. v. 608 The sasine in that case did not contain the year of God... It was accordingly found null.
1890 G. Neilson Trial by Combat xv. 51 Those dull pages, which tell of the purchase of eels and salmon..in the year of God 1289.
2005 MLN 120 165 The Khan alive and well, in the year of God 1298?
e. out of God's blessing into the warm sun and variants: from a better to a worse situation.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > adversity > in adversity [phrase] > at the or one's worst > from a prosperous or thriving condition
for (also to, into) the worseOE
out of God's blessing into the warm sun1546
down (the) wind1600
on (also, esp. in early use, upon) the go1682
to the bad1802
1546 J. Heywood Dialogue Prouerbes Eng. Tongue ii. v. sig. Hv Out of gods blissyng, in to the warme soon.
1577 W. Fulke Overthrow & Confut. Doctr. Purgatory ii. xi. 350 in Two Treat. against Papistes The Church of Rome sendeth her bastards out of the blessing of God, not into the warme sonne, but into whot [sic] burning cooles of purgatory.
a1612 J. Harington Epigrams (1618) ii. 56 Pray God they bring vs not, when all is done, Out of Gods blessing, into this warme sunne.
1612 in R. F. Williams Birch's Court & Times James I (1848) (modernized text) I. 186 That which you have done about my transplantation doth very well agree with my desire; and I account it to be out of the warm sun into God's blessing.
1673 F. Kirkman Unlucky Citizen x. 169 What good could I expect to have, or learn from such a Master as I was now placed with? by changing my Masters.., I had mended the matter well, by coming out of Gods blessing into the warm Sun.
1710 E. Ward Satyrical Refl. on Clubs xxiv. 279 Captain Russell..made him one of his Retinue, and so remov'd him out of God's Blessing, into the warm Sun.
1881 A. C. Swinburne Mary Stuart i. ii. 54 She should be girt to ride, as the old saw saith, Out of God's blessing into the warm sun.
2009 BBC Monitoring Europe (Nexis) 22 Dec. For the MPC this would mean not only going out of God's blessing into the warm sun, but also falling on the ground.
f. God of the gaps: God adduced as an explanation for phenomena not yet explained by science; God thought of as acting only in those spheres not otherwise accounted for.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the supernatural > deity > Christian God > [noun] > according to other attributes
horn of salvation (health)c825
fatherOE
Our FatherOE
leecha1200
searcher of (men's) heartsa1382
untempter1382
headstone of the cornerc1400
Valentinec1450
illuminator1485
sun?1521
righteous maker1535
shepherd1535
verity1535
strengthener1567
gracer1592
heart-searcher1618
heartbreaker1642
sustainera1680
philanthropist1730
the invisible1781
praise1782
All-Father1814
wisdom1855
omniscient1856
engracer1866
inbreather1873
God of the gaps1933
the great —— in the sky1968
1894 H. Drummond Lowell Lect. Ascent of Man x. 426 There are reverent minds who ceaselessly scan the fields of Nature and the books of Science in search of gaps—gaps which they will fill up with God. As if God lived in gaps?
1927 C. E. Raven Creator Spirit iv. 113 Only disaster awaits the religion which..tries to fit God into the gaps left by scientific study.]
1933 E. W. Barnes Sci. Theory & Relig. in Sci. News Let. 2 Sept. 157 To me the God of the trigger is as little satisfying as the God of the gaps.
1955 C. A. Coulson Sci. & Christian Belief i. 20 There is no ‘God of the gaps’ to take over at those strategic places where science fails.
1979 A. R. Peacocke Creation & World of Sci. i. i. 24 The two-realm ontologies lead to a God-of-the-gaps concept of God's relation to the world.
2010 Guardian 4 Sept. 30/2 The origin of life and the origin of consciousness are favourite loci for a god-of-the-gaps, but the origin of the universe is the perennial big gap.
g. to play God: to act as if one were God; to attempt to control people or events; to interfere in matters regarded as beyond the (appropriate) sphere of human influence. Cf. to play the god at Phrases 4b.
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1904 E. Phillpotts Amer. Prisoner iii. xi. 353 Sold the whole of 'em..played God and Fate—for two hundred pound—and liberty.
1922 Mexia (Texas) Evening News 17 Oct. 4/4 Here he begins the game of playing God to life's unfortunates.
1989 M. G. Field Success & Crisis in National Health Syst. Introd. 2 The decisions to ‘turn the machine off’ or ‘to play God’, that is deliberately choosing who is going to live and who is going to die.
2007 Courier-Mail (Brisbane) 1 Dec. (Q weekend section) 21/1 (heading) Her job is to help families in their darkest hours, but some accuse her of playing God.
h. act of God: see act n. Phrases 4.
i. God is in the details (and variants) [after German der liebe Gott steckt im Detail God is in the detail (1925 in A. Warburg; compare quot. 1953)] : the success of a plan, enterprise, etc., is dependent on scrupulous attention to and execution of small, fine details.The phrase is particularly associated with the German Modernist architect Mies van der Rohe (see quot. 1957).
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1953 W. R. Trask tr. E. R. Curtius European Lit. & Lat. Middle Ages ii. 35 We must..proceed from generalities to the concrete wealth of the substance of history... But, as Aby Warburg used to say to his students, ‘God is in detail [Ger. der liebe Gott steckt im Detail]’.
1957 Life 18 Mar. 68/1 While emphasizing fundamental principles of architecture, he [sc. Mies van der Rohe] reminds them that ‘God is in the details’.
1985 World Politics 37 560 If God is in the detail—..if it is the specificity, the concreteness of social life that brings us closest to understanding it, [etc.].
2014 N.Y. Times (Nexis) 3 Dec. d1 I discovered Ms. Heatter's books when I was a teenager... I loved their exactitude... Suggestions like..chilling the beaters and bowl before whipping heavy cream for the fluffiest texture. God is in the details, as they say.
P3. In oaths.
a. by God, †before (also for, fore) God; also by God above, etc. Cf. by prep. 2. [Compare Anglo-Norman par deu and Middle French, French par Dieu (c1170).] From a desire to avoid the charge of taking God's name in vain arise various distorted or ‘minced’ pronunciations of the word: see cock n.6, dod n.1 and int., Gad n.2, gar int., Ged n.2, Gog n.1, goles n., golly int., gom n.3, gosh n., gosse n.1, gud n., gum n.5; also adad int., adod int., bedad int., begad int., begar int., ecod int., egad int., igad int.
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the mind > language > malediction > oaths > [interjection] > religious oaths (referring to God) > egad
by Goda1225
deusc1300
s'elpa1330
by Gogc1400
Gog of heavena1500
by cock?1548
mort dieua1593
(God) refuse me1596
God damn me1619
adad1664
agad1672
igad1672
egad1673
adod1676
ecod1677
gadso1677
ydadc1680
goles1734
s'gad1743
by (or my) gumc1815
gorblimey1896
a1225 MS Lamb. in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1868) 1st Ser. 57 For god, let þu þet uuele beon.
c1325 (c1300) Chron. Robert of Gloucester (Calig.) 7000 Vor gode [a1400 Trin. Cambr. bi god] þe nexte king..ne ȝef hom noȝt folliche so muche.
c1330 (?c1300) Bevis of Hampton (Auch.) 1098 ‘For gode’, queþ Beues, ‘þat ich do nelle’.
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 7934 ‘Bi godd o-liue’, he suor his ath.
c1400 (?c1390) Sir Gawain & Green Knight (1940) l. 965 (MED) A mensk lady on molde mon may hir calle, for Gode [rhymes brode, lode].
c1410 (c1350) Gamelyn (Harl. 7334) l. 469 (MED) It is nouȝt wel serued, by God þat al made.
c1450 (a1400) Libeaus Desconus (Calig. A.ii) (1969) l. 195 Be God þat boȝte me dere!
c1500 Melusine (1895) 293 By god, my lord, shame is therof to you.
?1520 J. Rastell Nature .iiii. Element sig. Cvjv That is well sayd be god almyght.
?1544 J. Heywood Foure PP sig. C.iv Pardoner. I thought ye lyed. Potycary. And so thought I by god that dyed.
c1557 Enterlude of Youth (new ed.) sig. Biiv A wyfe nay nay for God auowe He shall haue fleshe inoughe.
1599 H. Porter Pleasant Hist. Two Angrie Women of Abington sig. C2v Fran, Are they so? Comes, I before God are they.
1612 B. Jonson Alchemist i. iii. sig. C3v 'Fore God, my intelligence Costs me more money, then my share oft comes too. View more context for this quotation
1617 F. Moryson Itinerary ii. 157 By God, Sir, I will doe for Queene Elizabeth that which I will not doe for my selfe.
1751 T. Smollett Peregrine Pickle I. xxxvi. 276 Before God! I think the fellow's head is made of a wool-pack; for my shot rebounded from his face like a wad of spun-yarn from the walls of a ship.
1799 M. Hays Victim of Prejudice I. iii. 29By God!’ said he, ‘a little beauty! a Hebe! a wood-nymph! I must and will have a kiss.’
1844 R. W. Emerson Poet in Ess. 2nd Ser. i. 43 He says with the old painter, ‘By God, it is in me, and must go forth of me’.
1885 J. Ormsby Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote III. ii. xxxiv. 384By God and upon my conscience’, said the devil, ‘I never observed it’.
1912 B. L. Reitman in P. Glassgold Anarchy! (2001) 271 You won't kiss the American flag, eh? By God, we'll make you; we'll ram it down your throat.
1915 J. Turner Let. 3 May in C. Warren Somewhere in France (2019) 12 I do trust, before God, that these innocent-eyed French kiddies do not understand a word of that which they repeat—in our tongue.
1953 V. Randolph & G. P. Wilson Down in Holler 166 By God, I'll chop the damn' thing to pieces!
2004 S. Hall Electric Michelangelo 161 Well, by God she is a little darling! It's why I went for her.
b. In the genitive with a following noun, expressing asseveration or adjuration. Preceded by by or (in adjuratory use: cf. Phrases 1b) by †for (rarely also †of) or without preposition. Altered or ‘minced’ forms of these oaths are also common: see ad n.2, cock n.6, Cod n.4, cops int., cots n., Cuds n., Gad n.2, Gog n.1, gud n., od n.1 and int., Uds n.For oaths in which the first element is reduced to merely the genitive ending, as 'Sblood, 'Sdeath, Zooks, zounds, etc., see the relevant main entry.
(a) With an ordinary noun.In some of these oaths the noun denotes an attribute of God; more usually, God's has the sense ‘Christ's’, as in God's arms, God's death, etc. (cf. sense A. 5c). In some humorous oaths, as in God's brother, God's fish, God's hat, God's malt, the noun has no meaning in its connection, being substituted for some word of solemn import.God's blood, God's body, God's dines, God's heart, God's life, God's nails, God's mercy: see the second element.
(by) God's arms int. Obsolete
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the mind > language > malediction > oaths > [interjection] > religious oaths (referring to God) > miscellaneous
depardieuc1290
by God's namec1330
by God's roodc1330
by God's eyes1340
God's soul1345
for God's sakec1386
cock's soulc1405
God's armsc1405
by God's dooma1425
(by) (God's) nailsa1500
by God's fast?1515
God's lord?1520
God's sacramenta1529
God's dominusc1530
by God's crown1535
God's bread1535
God's gown1535
God's guts1543
of God's word?1550
God's hat1569
Gods me1570
marry (a) Godc1574
God's malt1575
God's ludd?1577
God's sacring?1577
God's sokinges?1577
trunnion?1577
(by) God's will1579
God's teeth1580
'Shearta1596
God's light1598
by God's me1599
'Snails1599
'Slight1600
God's diggers1602
'Swill1602
od's mea1616
od's my lifea1616
'Sprecious1631
'Sbores1640
odso1660
for sake('s) sake1665
Gad's precious1677
heartlikins1677
od1681
'Sdiggers1687
(Lord) love you (also your heart)1707
God's fury1748
heartikins1751
S'fire1791
nom de Dieu1848
'strewth1892
Lord lumme1895
lumme1898
c1405 (c1390) G. Chaucer Pardoner's Tale (Hengwrt) (2003) l. 326 By goddes armes if thow falsly pleye This dagger shal thurgh out thyn herte go.
?1515 Hyckescorner (de Worde) sig. C.iiiiv Frewyll. I forsake thy company. Imagy. Goddes armes my company and why.
(by) God's bones int. (also †for God's bones) [compare post-classical Latin per os Dei (13th cent. in a British source)] now archaic
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the mind > language > malediction > oaths > [interjection] > religious oaths (referring to God) > God's bones
by corpus bonesc1386
cock's bonesc1405
God's bonesc1410
od's bonesa1895
c1410 (c1390) G. Chaucer Shipman's Tale (Harl. 7334) (1868) Prol. l. 4 For goddes boones Tel out a tale.
a1450 (?a1390) J. Mirk Instr. Parish Priests (Claud.) (1974) l. 870 (MED) Hast þou be wonet to swere als, By goddes bones or herte, fals?
1573 New Custome iii. i. sig. D ij Else I will smite thee..by goddes bones.
1599 Hist. Syr Clyomon & Clamydes sig. F Gos bones, turne in that sheep there.
1986 B. Erskine Lady of Hay xxvii. 355 Your tongue betrays you for a shrew and, by God's bones, I'll make a whore of you as well!
(by) God's bores int. [compare bore n.1 1c] Obsolete
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the mind > language > malediction > oaths > [interjection] > religious oaths (referring to God) > God's wounds
God's woundsc1460
kocks nownesa1556
nounsa1556
God's bores1578
swounds?1589
zoundsa1593
oons1593
'Snowns1594
wounds1600
od's nounsa1616
Gad's nouns1677
odsoons1694
od zounds1696
zines?1701
swolks1738
zoontersa1763
od's wounds1773
Gadswoons1826
woundikins1836
1578 G. Whetstone Promos & Cassandra: 2nd Pt. iii. ii. sig. Jiv Why, by Gods bores, they can bothe see and marke, If a man steale, but a smouch in the darke.
1600 A. Munday et al. First Pt. True Hist. Sir I. Old-castle sig. C4 Gods bores, I am sory for't.
1622 J. Mabbe tr. M. Alemán Rogue ii. 142 Gods-bores, what a deale of doe is here about nothing?
(by) God's bread int.
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the mind > language > malediction > oaths > [interjection] > religious oaths (referring to God) > miscellaneous
depardieuc1290
by God's namec1330
by God's roodc1330
by God's eyes1340
God's soul1345
for God's sakec1386
cock's soulc1405
God's armsc1405
by God's dooma1425
(by) (God's) nailsa1500
by God's fast?1515
God's lord?1520
God's sacramenta1529
God's dominusc1530
by God's crown1535
God's bread1535
God's gown1535
God's guts1543
of God's word?1550
God's hat1569
Gods me1570
marry (a) Godc1574
God's malt1575
God's ludd?1577
God's sacring?1577
God's sokinges?1577
trunnion?1577
(by) God's will1579
God's teeth1580
'Shearta1596
God's light1598
by God's me1599
'Snails1599
'Slight1600
God's diggers1602
'Swill1602
od's mea1616
od's my lifea1616
'Sprecious1631
'Sbores1640
odso1660
for sake('s) sake1665
Gad's precious1677
heartlikins1677
od1681
'Sdiggers1687
(Lord) love you (also your heart)1707
God's fury1748
heartikins1751
S'fire1791
nom de Dieu1848
'strewth1892
Lord lumme1895
lumme1898
society > faith > artefacts > consumables > eucharistic elements > bread > [noun]
fleshc1000
ofleteOE
mannaa1200
breada1225
bread of lifea1300
host1303
bodya1325
obleya1325
God's bodya1387
cakec1390
singing bread1432
bread of wheata1450
singing loaf1530
God's bread1535
bread god?1548
round robin?1548
holy bread1552
singing cake1553
Jack-in-the-box1554
wafer-cake?1554
wafer1559
wafer-bread1565
breaden god1570
mass cake1579
wafer-god1623
hostel1624
maker1635
hostie1641
oblata1721
altar bread1839
prosphora1874
1535 D. Lindsay Satyre 932 That sall wee do, be Gods breid.
1599 W. Shakespeare Romeo & Juliet iii. v. 176 Gods bread, it makes me mad.
1881 J. Todhunter Rienzi ii. ii. 53 God's bread! my lord, I need no lawyer's craft In mangling words to think it null and void.
1990 Jrnl. Museum Educ. 15 9/2 My chess box is there in the center—you can see the board at the bottom—and God's bread it's a marvelous pastime.
by God's corpus int. [compare God's body n. at Compounds 2c and God's body! at body n. Phrases 3; compare Middle French par le corps Dieu (1388)] Obsolete
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the mind > language > malediction > oaths > [interjection] > religious oaths (referring to God) > God's body
by God's corpusc1405
God's sides?1515
(by) Gog's arms, blood, body?1520
God's budkin1599
'Sbody1602
od's bobsa1625
'Sbud1676
Gadsbodikins1677
od's bodikins1677
'Sbodikins1677
Gad's bud1680
od's bud1682
'Sbobs1694
Gad's bobs1695
Gadsbudlikins1697
Cob's-body1708
c1405 (c1390) G. Chaucer Miller's Tale (Hengwrt) (2003) l. 555 By goddes corpus this gooth faire and wel.
by God's crown int. Obsolete
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the mind > language > malediction > oaths > [interjection] > religious oaths (referring to God) > miscellaneous
depardieuc1290
by God's namec1330
by God's roodc1330
by God's eyes1340
God's soul1345
for God's sakec1386
cock's soulc1405
God's armsc1405
by God's dooma1425
(by) (God's) nailsa1500
by God's fast?1515
God's lord?1520
God's sacramenta1529
God's dominusc1530
by God's crown1535
God's bread1535
God's gown1535
God's guts1543
of God's word?1550
God's hat1569
Gods me1570
marry (a) Godc1574
God's malt1575
God's ludd?1577
God's sacring?1577
God's sokinges?1577
trunnion?1577
(by) God's will1579
God's teeth1580
'Shearta1596
God's light1598
by God's me1599
'Snails1599
'Slight1600
God's diggers1602
'Swill1602
od's mea1616
od's my lifea1616
'Sprecious1631
'Sbores1640
odso1660
for sake('s) sake1665
Gad's precious1677
heartlikins1677
od1681
'Sdiggers1687
(Lord) love you (also your heart)1707
God's fury1748
heartikins1751
S'fire1791
nom de Dieu1848
'strewth1892
Lord lumme1895
lumme1898
1535 D. Lindsay Satyre 1943 Be Gods croun..I sall slay thee.
God's dainty int. Obsolete
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the mind > language > malediction > oaths > [interjection] > religious oaths (referring to God) > God's dignity or honour
by God's dignityc1405
dainty1564
God's dainty1564
by God's dines1599
'Sdeynes1616
1564 W. Bullein Dialogue against Fever Pestilence f. 46 V. Gods dentie Jacke sauce whence came you? R... How pretely you can call verlet, and sweare by Gods dintie.
(by) God's death int. (also †for God's death) [compare post-classical Latin per mortem Dei (from 12th cent. in British sources)]
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the mind > language > malediction > oaths > [interjection] > religious oaths (referring to God) > God's death
God's deathc1325
'Sdeath1606
c1325 Gilote & Johane in Chaucer Rev. (2004) 39 130/1 Alas, alas, for godes deth—such womon ys yshent!
a1500 (?a1400) Sir Torrent of Portyngale (1887) l. 379 Be goddes dede! Torrant bryngythe a devyll ys hed!
a1586 (a1500) Freiris Berwik l. 236 in W. A. Craigie Maitland Folio MS (1919) I. 139 Awalk for goddis deid.
1859 Ld. Tennyson Elaine in Idylls of King 182 Yea, by God's death..ye love him well.
1932 R. Sabatini Black Swan v. 43 By God's death!.. She'll sink us in reply.
2004 C. Revard tr. Gilote et Jehane in Chaucer Rev. 39 130/2 God's death—your life is hell with such a louse!
by God's dignity int. Obsolete
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the mind > language > malediction > oaths > [interjection] > religious oaths (referring to God) > God's dignity or honour
by God's dignityc1405
dainty1564
God's dainty1564
by God's dines1599
'Sdeynes1616
c1405 (c1390) G. Chaucer Reeve's Tale (Hengwrt) (2003) l. 350 Thou shalt be deed by goddes dignytee.
a1586 (a1500) Freiris Berwik l. 297 in W. A. Craigie Maitland Folio MS (1919) I. 141 I will yame haue be goddis dignite.
by God's doom int. Obsolete
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the mind > language > malediction > oaths > [interjection] > religious oaths (referring to God) > miscellaneous
depardieuc1290
by God's namec1330
by God's roodc1330
by God's eyes1340
God's soul1345
for God's sakec1386
cock's soulc1405
God's armsc1405
by God's dooma1425
(by) (God's) nailsa1500
by God's fast?1515
God's lord?1520
God's sacramenta1529
God's dominusc1530
by God's crown1535
God's bread1535
God's gown1535
God's guts1543
of God's word?1550
God's hat1569
Gods me1570
marry (a) Godc1574
God's malt1575
God's ludd?1577
God's sacring?1577
God's sokinges?1577
trunnion?1577
(by) God's will1579
God's teeth1580
'Shearta1596
God's light1598
by God's me1599
'Snails1599
'Slight1600
God's diggers1602
'Swill1602
od's mea1616
od's my lifea1616
'Sprecious1631
'Sbores1640
odso1660
for sake('s) sake1665
Gad's precious1677
heartlikins1677
od1681
'Sdiggers1687
(Lord) love you (also your heart)1707
God's fury1748
heartikins1751
S'fire1791
nom de Dieu1848
'strewth1892
Lord lumme1895
lumme1898
a1425 (?c1350) Ywain & Gawain (1964) l. 2561 Syr, by Goddes dome, I rede þou wend right als þou com.
c1503 Beuys of Southhamptowne (Pynson) sig. fii I graunt sayde Beuys by goddys dome.
by God's eyes int. [compare post-classical Latin per oculos Dei (12th cent. in a British source)] now archaic
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > malediction > oaths > [interjection] > religious oaths (referring to God) > miscellaneous
depardieuc1290
by God's namec1330
by God's roodc1330
by God's eyes1340
God's soul1345
for God's sakec1386
cock's soulc1405
God's armsc1405
by God's dooma1425
(by) (God's) nailsa1500
by God's fast?1515
God's lord?1520
God's sacramenta1529
God's dominusc1530
by God's crown1535
God's bread1535
God's gown1535
God's guts1543
of God's word?1550
God's hat1569
Gods me1570
marry (a) Godc1574
God's malt1575
God's ludd?1577
God's sacring?1577
God's sokinges?1577
trunnion?1577
(by) God's will1579
God's teeth1580
'Shearta1596
God's light1598
by God's me1599
'Snails1599
'Slight1600
God's diggers1602
'Swill1602
od's mea1616
od's my lifea1616
'Sprecious1631
'Sbores1640
odso1660
for sake('s) sake1665
Gad's precious1677
heartlikins1677
od1681
'Sdiggers1687
(Lord) love you (also your heart)1707
God's fury1748
heartikins1751
S'fire1791
nom de Dieu1848
'strewth1892
Lord lumme1895
lumme1898
1340 Ayenbite (1866) 45 (MED) A knyȝt wes þet zuor be godes eȝen.
a1450 Castle Perseverance l. 1109 I schal hym schende & wrekyn me, be Goddis yne.
1605 W. Camden Remaines 210 Let vs set vppon them, and slay them every mothers sonne; and by Gods eyes, when thou hast so done, thou hast killed all the faithfull friendes that thou hast in England.
1790 J. Berington Hist. Reign Henry II ii. 231 ‘Then, by God's eyes,’ said Henry in a rage, ‘he has excommunicated me.’
2007 D. Cosby His Captive iii. 42 By God's eyes, he was tired. At this moment, he could sleep upon a flattened boulder.
by God's fast int. Obsolete
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > malediction > oaths > [interjection] > religious oaths (referring to God) > miscellaneous
depardieuc1290
by God's namec1330
by God's roodc1330
by God's eyes1340
God's soul1345
for God's sakec1386
cock's soulc1405
God's armsc1405
by God's dooma1425
(by) (God's) nailsa1500
by God's fast?1515
God's lord?1520
God's sacramenta1529
God's dominusc1530
by God's crown1535
God's bread1535
God's gown1535
God's guts1543
of God's word?1550
God's hat1569
Gods me1570
marry (a) Godc1574
God's malt1575
God's ludd?1577
God's sacring?1577
God's sokinges?1577
trunnion?1577
(by) God's will1579
God's teeth1580
'Shearta1596
God's light1598
by God's me1599
'Snails1599
'Slight1600
God's diggers1602
'Swill1602
od's mea1616
od's my lifea1616
'Sprecious1631
'Sbores1640
odso1660
for sake('s) sake1665
Gad's precious1677
heartlikins1677
od1681
'Sdiggers1687
(Lord) love you (also your heart)1707
God's fury1748
heartikins1751
S'fire1791
nom de Dieu1848
'strewth1892
Lord lumme1895
lumme1898
?1515 Hyckescorner (de Worde) sig. C.ii What god almyghty by goddes fast at salysbury And I trowe eester day fell on whytsonday ye yere.
c1530 Hickscorner (c1550) E ij b By goddes fast I was ten yere in Newgate.
God's fish int. [perhaps an alteration of God's flesh! at flesh n. 9d] now archaic
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > malediction > oaths > [interjection] > religious oaths (referring to God) > God's fish
God's fish1570
od's fish1634
1570 Mariage Witte & Sci. v. i. sig. Eiv Gods fishe hostes, and knowe you not mee.
1675 A. Marvell Wks. (1875) I. 431 I have a passable good estate, I confess, but, God's-fish, I have a great charge upon't.
1716 Lady Cowper Diary (1864) 95 To which he replied, God's Fish! (that was his common Oath) I don't believe a Word of all this.
c1728 Earl of Ailesbury Mem. 649 Gods fish! when two rogues fall out, their master then is like to know the truth.
1917 in E. A. Robinson Merlin 18 We'll say, to pass the time, that I speak well. God's fish! The King had eyes; and Lancelot Won't ride home to his mother, for she's dead.
2011 C. Lovejoy Ravishing of Lady May ix God's fish, my lady, who told you such a tale?
(by) God's foot int. (also for God's foot) Obsolete
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > malediction > oaths > [interjection] > religious oaths (referring to God) > God's foot
God's footc1460
'Sfoot1602
foot1608
c1460 in R. Brotanek Mittelengl. Dichtungen MS 432 Trin. Coll. Dublin (1940) 99 (MED) For goddes fote! holde, for þis is thre.
?1550 R. Weaver Lusty Iuventus sig. D.i Yea by gods foote that I wyl be busye.
1599 H. Porter Pleasant Hist. Two Angrie Women of Abington sig. F2 Gods foote, I crye God hartely mercy.
God's fury int.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > malediction > oaths > [interjection] > religious oaths (referring to God) > miscellaneous
depardieuc1290
by God's namec1330
by God's roodc1330
by God's eyes1340
God's soul1345
for God's sakec1386
cock's soulc1405
God's armsc1405
by God's dooma1425
(by) (God's) nailsa1500
by God's fast?1515
God's lord?1520
God's sacramenta1529
God's dominusc1530
by God's crown1535
God's bread1535
God's gown1535
God's guts1543
of God's word?1550
God's hat1569
Gods me1570
marry (a) Godc1574
God's malt1575
God's ludd?1577
God's sacring?1577
God's sokinges?1577
trunnion?1577
(by) God's will1579
God's teeth1580
'Shearta1596
God's light1598
by God's me1599
'Snails1599
'Slight1600
God's diggers1602
'Swill1602
od's mea1616
od's my lifea1616
'Sprecious1631
'Sbores1640
odso1660
for sake('s) sake1665
Gad's precious1677
heartlikins1677
od1681
'Sdiggers1687
(Lord) love you (also your heart)1707
God's fury1748
heartikins1751
S'fire1791
nom de Dieu1848
'strewth1892
Lord lumme1895
lumme1898
1748 T. Smollett Roderick Random I. xi. 74 God's fury! there shall no passangers come here.
1851 J. Grant Bothwell II. ix. 111 God's fury, and his malison to boot! be on this white-livered dog—this foul traitor—.
1984 J. Rutherford tr. L. Alas La Regenta (2005) II. xix God's fury! Begad! A curse on him! He is always up to this kind of trick!
(by) God's gown int. [perhaps compare God's cope n.] Obsolete
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > malediction > oaths > [interjection] > religious oaths (referring to God) > miscellaneous
depardieuc1290
by God's namec1330
by God's roodc1330
by God's eyes1340
God's soul1345
for God's sakec1386
cock's soulc1405
God's armsc1405
by God's dooma1425
(by) (God's) nailsa1500
by God's fast?1515
God's lord?1520
God's sacramenta1529
God's dominusc1530
by God's crown1535
God's bread1535
God's gown1535
God's guts1543
of God's word?1550
God's hat1569
Gods me1570
marry (a) Godc1574
God's malt1575
God's ludd?1577
God's sacring?1577
God's sokinges?1577
trunnion?1577
(by) God's will1579
God's teeth1580
'Shearta1596
God's light1598
by God's me1599
'Snails1599
'Slight1600
God's diggers1602
'Swill1602
od's mea1616
od's my lifea1616
'Sprecious1631
'Sbores1640
odso1660
for sake('s) sake1665
Gad's precious1677
heartlikins1677
od1681
'Sdiggers1687
(Lord) love you (also your heart)1707
God's fury1748
heartikins1751
S'fire1791
nom de Dieu1848
'strewth1892
Lord lumme1895
lumme1898
1535 D. Lindsay Satyre 393 Or ȝe tuik skaith, be Gods goun [etc.].
1895 Temple Bar Jan. 79 God's gown! but that wine was good!
(by) God's guts int. now archaic
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > malediction > oaths > [interjection] > religious oaths (referring to God) > miscellaneous
depardieuc1290
by God's namec1330
by God's roodc1330
by God's eyes1340
God's soul1345
for God's sakec1386
cock's soulc1405
God's armsc1405
by God's dooma1425
(by) (God's) nailsa1500
by God's fast?1515
God's lord?1520
God's sacramenta1529
God's dominusc1530
by God's crown1535
God's bread1535
God's gown1535
God's guts1543
of God's word?1550
God's hat1569
Gods me1570
marry (a) Godc1574
God's malt1575
God's ludd?1577
God's sacring?1577
God's sokinges?1577
trunnion?1577
(by) God's will1579
God's teeth1580
'Shearta1596
God's light1598
by God's me1599
'Snails1599
'Slight1600
God's diggers1602
'Swill1602
od's mea1616
od's my lifea1616
'Sprecious1631
'Sbores1640
odso1660
for sake('s) sake1665
Gad's precious1677
heartlikins1677
od1681
'Sdiggers1687
(Lord) love you (also your heart)1707
God's fury1748
heartikins1751
S'fire1791
nom de Dieu1848
'strewth1892
Lord lumme1895
lumme1898
1543 T. Becon Inuectyue agenst Swearing f. xvii How common an oothe nowe dayes is Gods flesh, Gods bloud,..Goddes guttes, and all that euer maye be rehearsed of God?
1573 New Custome ii. iii. sig. C ivv Nowe by goddes guttes I will neuer staye, Tyll I finde meanes to ridde the beast out of the waye.
1995 D. Coward tr. A. Dumas Vicomte De Bragelonne (1998) lii. 361 Without saying once in course of the day, by God's guts, or a pox on it.
God's hat int. Obsolete
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > malediction > oaths > [interjection] > religious oaths (referring to God) > miscellaneous
depardieuc1290
by God's namec1330
by God's roodc1330
by God's eyes1340
God's soul1345
for God's sakec1386
cock's soulc1405
God's armsc1405
by God's dooma1425
(by) (God's) nailsa1500
by God's fast?1515
God's lord?1520
God's sacramenta1529
God's dominusc1530
by God's crown1535
God's bread1535
God's gown1535
God's guts1543
of God's word?1550
God's hat1569
Gods me1570
marry (a) Godc1574
God's malt1575
God's ludd?1577
God's sacring?1577
God's sokinges?1577
trunnion?1577
(by) God's will1579
God's teeth1580
'Shearta1596
God's light1598
by God's me1599
'Snails1599
'Slight1600
God's diggers1602
'Swill1602
od's mea1616
od's my lifea1616
'Sprecious1631
'Sbores1640
odso1660
for sake('s) sake1665
Gad's precious1677
heartlikins1677
od1681
'Sdiggers1687
(Lord) love you (also your heart)1707
God's fury1748
heartikins1751
S'fire1791
nom de Dieu1848
'strewth1892
Lord lumme1895
lumme1898
1569 T. Preston Lamentable Trag. Cambises D iv b Gods hat neighbour come away.
God's lady int. Obsolete
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > malediction > oaths > [interjection] > religious oaths (referring to God) > (originally) with reference to Mary
marrya1375
Marya1375
by (our) lakin1496
by the Mary mass1532
by God's mother?1544
marry (and) amenc1574
God's lady1589
marry-go-look1590
1589 G. Puttenham Arte Eng. Poesie iii. xix. 193 Gods lady I reckon my selfe as good a man as he.
(by) God's lid int. Obsolete
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > malediction > oaths > [interjection] > religious oaths (referring to God) > God's eyelid
God's lid1600
'Slid1606
Gad's lid1616
od's lid1616
Zlid1616
'Slidikins1694
slitterkins1786
1600 T. Dekker Old Fortunatus sig. Hv Nay gods lid, y'are not gon so.
1601 B. Jonson Every Man in his Humor ii. iii. sig. E4v By Gods lid, and you had not confest it ——. View more context for this quotation
1609 Euerie Woman in her Humor sig. D3 By Gods-lid, if I had knowne [etc.].
1834 R. M. Bird Calavar II. xxv. 191 How now, my noble friend! art thou hurt beyond speaking! God's lid! but I would hug thee, if thou didst not look so dismal!
(by) God's light int.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > malediction > oaths > [interjection] > religious oaths (referring to God) > miscellaneous
depardieuc1290
by God's namec1330
by God's roodc1330
by God's eyes1340
God's soul1345
for God's sakec1386
cock's soulc1405
God's armsc1405
by God's dooma1425
(by) (God's) nailsa1500
by God's fast?1515
God's lord?1520
God's sacramenta1529
God's dominusc1530
by God's crown1535
God's bread1535
God's gown1535
God's guts1543
of God's word?1550
God's hat1569
Gods me1570
marry (a) Godc1574
God's malt1575
God's ludd?1577
God's sacring?1577
God's sokinges?1577
trunnion?1577
(by) God's will1579
God's teeth1580
'Shearta1596
God's light1598
by God's me1599
'Snails1599
'Slight1600
God's diggers1602
'Swill1602
od's mea1616
od's my lifea1616
'Sprecious1631
'Sbores1640
odso1660
for sake('s) sake1665
Gad's precious1677
heartlikins1677
od1681
'Sdiggers1687
(Lord) love you (also your heart)1707
God's fury1748
heartikins1751
S'fire1791
nom de Dieu1848
'strewth1892
Lord lumme1895
lumme1898
1598 W. Shakespeare Henry IV, Pt. 1 iii. iii. 61 Gods light I was neuer cald so in mine owne house before. View more context for this quotation
1607 T. Heywood Woman Kilde with Kindnesse sig. D3 Gods light, hark within there.
1822 Atheneum: Spirit of Eng. Mags. Nov. 100/2 By God's light, coward, I have a mind to put this knife into you.
2009 S. Wiggs At King's Command 23 By God's light, Laszlo, he's all I have now.
God's lord int. Obsolete
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > malediction > oaths > [interjection] > religious oaths (referring to God) > miscellaneous
depardieuc1290
by God's namec1330
by God's roodc1330
by God's eyes1340
God's soul1345
for God's sakec1386
cock's soulc1405
God's armsc1405
by God's dooma1425
(by) (God's) nailsa1500
by God's fast?1515
God's lord?1520
God's sacramenta1529
God's dominusc1530
by God's crown1535
God's bread1535
God's gown1535
God's guts1543
of God's word?1550
God's hat1569
Gods me1570
marry (a) Godc1574
God's malt1575
God's ludd?1577
God's sacring?1577
God's sokinges?1577
trunnion?1577
(by) God's will1579
God's teeth1580
'Shearta1596
God's light1598
by God's me1599
'Snails1599
'Slight1600
God's diggers1602
'Swill1602
od's mea1616
od's my lifea1616
'Sprecious1631
'Sbores1640
odso1660
for sake('s) sake1665
Gad's precious1677
heartlikins1677
od1681
'Sdiggers1687
(Lord) love you (also your heart)1707
God's fury1748
heartikins1751
S'fire1791
nom de Dieu1848
'strewth1892
Lord lumme1895
lumme1898
?1520 J. Rastell Nature .iiii. Element sig. Cvv Goddis lorde seist not who is here now.
1600 T. Dekker Shomakers Holiday sig. G3 Gods lord tis late, to Guild Hall I must hie.
God's malt int. Obsolete
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > malediction > oaths > [interjection] > religious oaths (referring to God) > miscellaneous
depardieuc1290
by God's namec1330
by God's roodc1330
by God's eyes1340
God's soul1345
for God's sakec1386
cock's soulc1405
God's armsc1405
by God's dooma1425
(by) (God's) nailsa1500
by God's fast?1515
God's lord?1520
God's sacramenta1529
God's dominusc1530
by God's crown1535
God's bread1535
God's gown1535
God's guts1543
of God's word?1550
God's hat1569
Gods me1570
marry (a) Godc1574
God's malt1575
God's ludd?1577
God's sacring?1577
God's sokinges?1577
trunnion?1577
(by) God's will1579
God's teeth1580
'Shearta1596
God's light1598
by God's me1599
'Snails1599
'Slight1600
God's diggers1602
'Swill1602
od's mea1616
od's my lifea1616
'Sprecious1631
'Sbores1640
odso1660
for sake('s) sake1665
Gad's precious1677
heartlikins1677
od1681
'Sdiggers1687
(Lord) love you (also your heart)1707
God's fury1748
heartikins1751
S'fire1791
nom de Dieu1848
'strewth1892
Lord lumme1895
lumme1898
1575 W. Stevenson Gammer Gurtons Nedle v. ii. sig. Eiiii Gods malt Gammer gurton.
by God's mother int. [compare Mother of God at mother n.1 5]
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > malediction > oaths > [interjection] > religious oaths (referring to God) > (originally) with reference to Mary
marrya1375
Marya1375
by (our) lakin1496
by the Mary mass1532
by God's mother?1544
marry (and) amenc1574
God's lady1589
marry-go-look1590
?1544 J. Heywood Foure PP sig. D.iv No stone lefte standynge by goddes mother.
1865 A. C. Swinburne Chastelard (1878) iv. 118 Now, by God's mother, if I respite him..He should not lose a hair.
1983 S. Raven September Castle i. 87 By God's Mother I speak only the truth.
by God's name int. Obsolete
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > malediction > oaths > [interjection] > religious oaths (referring to God) > miscellaneous
depardieuc1290
by God's namec1330
by God's roodc1330
by God's eyes1340
God's soul1345
for God's sakec1386
cock's soulc1405
God's armsc1405
by God's dooma1425
(by) (God's) nailsa1500
by God's fast?1515
God's lord?1520
God's sacramenta1529
God's dominusc1530
by God's crown1535
God's bread1535
God's gown1535
God's guts1543
of God's word?1550
God's hat1569
Gods me1570
marry (a) Godc1574
God's malt1575
God's ludd?1577
God's sacring?1577
God's sokinges?1577
trunnion?1577
(by) God's will1579
God's teeth1580
'Shearta1596
God's light1598
by God's me1599
'Snails1599
'Slight1600
God's diggers1602
'Swill1602
od's mea1616
od's my lifea1616
'Sprecious1631
'Sbores1640
odso1660
for sake('s) sake1665
Gad's precious1677
heartlikins1677
od1681
'Sdiggers1687
(Lord) love you (also your heart)1707
God's fury1748
heartikins1751
S'fire1791
nom de Dieu1848
'strewth1892
Lord lumme1895
lumme1898
c1330 (?c1300) Bevis of Hampton (Auch.) l. 2191 (MED) Be godes name, Ichaue for þe sofred meche schame!
1644 S. Rutherford Lex, Rex Pref. sig. a3 King James cast him off, and did swear, By Gods name he intended to be King, (the Prelate maketh Blasphemy a vertue in the King).
for God's pain int. Obsolete
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > malediction > oaths > [interjection] > religious oaths (referring to God) > God's passion
God's passionc1460
by God's pinea1500
for God's paina1500
cock's passion1535
for the pashe of God?1553
God's my passion?1577
a1500 (a1460) Towneley Plays (1994) I. ii. 23 Peasse, man, for Godys payn!
(by) God's passion int.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > malediction > oaths > [interjection] > religious oaths (referring to God) > God's passion
God's passionc1460
by God's pinea1500
for God's paina1500
cock's passion1535
for the pashe of God?1553
God's my passion?1577
c1460 in R. Brotanek Mittelengl. Dichtungen MS 432 Trin. Coll. Dublin (1940) 100 (MED) By goddes passioun! lousy horeson, In a bettre tyme mightest þou neuer come.
1535 D. Lindsay Satyre 1438 That sall we do..be Gods passioun.
1589 G. Puttenham Arte Eng. Poesie iii. xvi. 153 Gods passion..said she, would thou haue me beare mo children yet.
a1846 A. De Vere Mary Tudor, Pt. 2 (1847) i. ii. 165 God's Passion! Said I not how these fellows should be known?
1903 A. Austin Flodden Field i. 44 Now, by God's Passion, on this very hour, And on its undetermined issue, hangs The future of two great opposing Realms.
2001 V. Henley Border Hostage iv. 40 God's passion, woman, nothin' good ever came up from England!
by God's pine int. [pine n.1] Obsolete
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > malediction > oaths > [interjection] > religious oaths (referring to God) > God's passion
God's passionc1460
by God's pinea1500
for God's paina1500
cock's passion1535
for the pashe of God?1553
God's my passion?1577
a1500 (a1460) Towneley Plays (1994) I. iii. 35 I swere bi Godys pyne.
c1503 Beuys of Southhamptowne (Pynson) sig. fiiiv I the tel by goddys pyne.
God's pity int. Obsolete
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > malediction > oaths > [interjection] > religious oaths (referring to God) > God's pity
God's pity1569
od's pittikinsa1616
1569 T. Preston Lamentable Trag. Cambises B j b Yea Gods pittie, begin ye to intreat me?
1606 G. Chapman Gentleman Vsher iv. i. sig. G4v Gods pittie, what an errant Asse was I, To entertaine the Princes craftie friendship?
1821 W. Scott Kenilworth I. xv. 271God's pity! that was well said, my lord,’ said the Queen.
1912 L. N. Parker Drake (1913) ii. iii. 80 Queen (Deeply moved) God's pity!—My poor mariners!—My heart aches for you!
by God's rood int. now archaic
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > malediction > oaths > [interjection] > religious oaths (referring to God) > miscellaneous
depardieuc1290
by God's namec1330
by God's roodc1330
by God's eyes1340
God's soul1345
for God's sakec1386
cock's soulc1405
God's armsc1405
by God's dooma1425
(by) (God's) nailsa1500
by God's fast?1515
God's lord?1520
God's sacramenta1529
God's dominusc1530
by God's crown1535
God's bread1535
God's gown1535
God's guts1543
of God's word?1550
God's hat1569
Gods me1570
marry (a) Godc1574
God's malt1575
God's ludd?1577
God's sacring?1577
God's sokinges?1577
trunnion?1577
(by) God's will1579
God's teeth1580
'Shearta1596
God's light1598
by God's me1599
'Snails1599
'Slight1600
God's diggers1602
'Swill1602
od's mea1616
od's my lifea1616
'Sprecious1631
'Sbores1640
odso1660
for sake('s) sake1665
Gad's precious1677
heartlikins1677
od1681
'Sdiggers1687
(Lord) love you (also your heart)1707
God's fury1748
heartikins1751
S'fire1791
nom de Dieu1848
'strewth1892
Lord lumme1895
lumme1898
c1330 (?a1300) Sir Tristrem (1886) l. 2127 (MED) Y wold þe litel gode, Ac y þe wraied neuer day, Y swere bi godes rode.
1859 Ld. Tennyson Enid in Idylls of King 20 Here by God's rood is the one maid for me.
1926 C. Stilson Sword Play vi. 91 ‘A comely boy, by God's rood!’ he drawled; ‘comely as any wench.’
2005 J. Trapp Master of Pleasure xxvi. 268By God's rood,’ Godric cursed, striding inside.
(by) God's sacrament int. Obsolete
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > malediction > oaths > [interjection] > religious oaths (referring to God) > miscellaneous
depardieuc1290
by God's namec1330
by God's roodc1330
by God's eyes1340
God's soul1345
for God's sakec1386
cock's soulc1405
God's armsc1405
by God's dooma1425
(by) (God's) nailsa1500
by God's fast?1515
God's lord?1520
God's sacramenta1529
God's dominusc1530
by God's crown1535
God's bread1535
God's gown1535
God's guts1543
of God's word?1550
God's hat1569
Gods me1570
marry (a) Godc1574
God's malt1575
God's ludd?1577
God's sacring?1577
God's sokinges?1577
trunnion?1577
(by) God's will1579
God's teeth1580
'Shearta1596
God's light1598
by God's me1599
'Snails1599
'Slight1600
God's diggers1602
'Swill1602
od's mea1616
od's my lifea1616
'Sprecious1631
'Sbores1640
odso1660
for sake('s) sake1665
Gad's precious1677
heartlikins1677
od1681
'Sdiggers1687
(Lord) love you (also your heart)1707
God's fury1748
heartikins1751
S'fire1791
nom de Dieu1848
'strewth1892
Lord lumme1895
lumme1898
a1529 J. Skelton Magnyfycence (?1530) sig. C.iiiv Courtly abusyon ye dyd they so Fansy ye by goddes sacrament and with other mo.
1575 W. Stevenson Gammer Gurtons Nedle v. ii. sig. Eiiv Gods sacrament the villain knaue hath drest vs round about.
God's sacring int. Obsolete
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > malediction > oaths > [interjection] > religious oaths (referring to God) > miscellaneous
depardieuc1290
by God's namec1330
by God's roodc1330
by God's eyes1340
God's soul1345
for God's sakec1386
cock's soulc1405
God's armsc1405
by God's dooma1425
(by) (God's) nailsa1500
by God's fast?1515
God's lord?1520
God's sacramenta1529
God's dominusc1530
by God's crown1535
God's bread1535
God's gown1535
God's guts1543
of God's word?1550
God's hat1569
Gods me1570
marry (a) Godc1574
God's malt1575
God's ludd?1577
God's sacring?1577
God's sokinges?1577
trunnion?1577
(by) God's will1579
God's teeth1580
'Shearta1596
God's light1598
by God's me1599
'Snails1599
'Slight1600
God's diggers1602
'Swill1602
od's mea1616
od's my lifea1616
'Sprecious1631
'Sbores1640
odso1660
for sake('s) sake1665
Gad's precious1677
heartlikins1677
od1681
'Sdiggers1687
(Lord) love you (also your heart)1707
God's fury1748
heartikins1751
S'fire1791
nom de Dieu1848
'strewth1892
Lord lumme1895
lumme1898
?1577 Misogonus in R. W. Bond Early Plays from Ital. (1911) 209 Gods sacringe I haue lost a noble at two settes.
(by) God's sides int. Obsolete
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > malediction > oaths > [interjection] > religious oaths (referring to God) > God's body
by God's corpusc1405
God's sides?1515
(by) Gog's arms, blood, body?1520
God's budkin1599
'Sbody1602
od's bobsa1625
'Sbud1676
Gadsbodikins1677
od's bodikins1677
'Sbodikins1677
Gad's bud1680
od's bud1682
'Sbobs1694
Gad's bobs1695
Gadsbudlikins1697
Cob's-body1708
a1500 (a1460) Towneley Plays (1994) I. ii. 25 Bi Codys sydys, if thou do, I shall hang the apon this plo.]
?1515 Hyckescorner (de Worde) sig. C.iiiiv By goddes sydes I hadde leuer be hanged.
c1600 Club Law (1907) v. iv. 99 Gods sides hee beggs like a Coward.
(by) God's soul int. now rare
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > malediction > oaths > [interjection] > religious oaths (referring to God) > miscellaneous
depardieuc1290
by God's namec1330
by God's roodc1330
by God's eyes1340
God's soul1345
for God's sakec1386
cock's soulc1405
God's armsc1405
by God's dooma1425
(by) (God's) nailsa1500
by God's fast?1515
God's lord?1520
God's sacramenta1529
God's dominusc1530
by God's crown1535
God's bread1535
God's gown1535
God's guts1543
of God's word?1550
God's hat1569
Gods me1570
marry (a) Godc1574
God's malt1575
God's ludd?1577
God's sacring?1577
God's sokinges?1577
trunnion?1577
(by) God's will1579
God's teeth1580
'Shearta1596
God's light1598
by God's me1599
'Snails1599
'Slight1600
God's diggers1602
'Swill1602
od's mea1616
od's my lifea1616
'Sprecious1631
'Sbores1640
odso1660
for sake('s) sake1665
Gad's precious1677
heartlikins1677
od1681
'Sdiggers1687
(Lord) love you (also your heart)1707
God's fury1748
heartikins1751
S'fire1791
nom de Dieu1848
'strewth1892
Lord lumme1895
lumme1898
1345–9 Wardrobe Acct. Edward III in Archaeologia (1846) 31 43 (MED) Hay, hay, the Wythe swan! by godes soule, I am thy man!
c1405 (c1390) G. Chaucer Miller's Tale (Hengwrt) (2003) Prol. l. 24 By goddes soule..that wol nat I.
1573 New Custome i. ii. sig. B ij I can not by goddes sowle.
a1586 Peblis to Play 18 Be Goddis saull, that is trew.
1993 Island News for Seniors Mar. 16/3 God's soul and body! you had to have your horses.
(by) God's teeth (also tooth) int. [compare hell's teeth int. at hell n. and int. Compounds 2]
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > malediction > oaths > [interjection] > religious oaths (referring to God) > miscellaneous
depardieuc1290
by God's namec1330
by God's roodc1330
by God's eyes1340
God's soul1345
for God's sakec1386
cock's soulc1405
God's armsc1405
by God's dooma1425
(by) (God's) nailsa1500
by God's fast?1515
God's lord?1520
God's sacramenta1529
God's dominusc1530
by God's crown1535
God's bread1535
God's gown1535
God's guts1543
of God's word?1550
God's hat1569
Gods me1570
marry (a) Godc1574
God's malt1575
God's ludd?1577
God's sacring?1577
God's sokinges?1577
trunnion?1577
(by) God's will1579
God's teeth1580
'Shearta1596
God's light1598
by God's me1599
'Snails1599
'Slight1600
God's diggers1602
'Swill1602
od's mea1616
od's my lifea1616
'Sprecious1631
'Sbores1640
odso1660
for sake('s) sake1665
Gad's precious1677
heartlikins1677
od1681
'Sdiggers1687
(Lord) love you (also your heart)1707
God's fury1748
heartikins1751
S'fire1791
nom de Dieu1848
'strewth1892
Lord lumme1895
lumme1898
1580 J. Stow Chrons. of Eng. 242 By Gods tooth (quoth King Iohn) he were a King indeede that had suche a Knighte.
1700 J. Tyrrell Gen. Hist. Eng. II. ii. vii. 735 He [sc. King John]..spoke many hard words against the Pope and his Cardinals, Swearing by God's Teeth (his usual Oath) that..he would forthwith send all the Prelates and Clergy of England to the Pope.
1831 P. Leicester Arthur of Brittany II. iii. 64 Cease, or by God's teeth, this hand shall teach thee respect.
1922 M. Dallett New Salome i. 17 She is so pretty! God's tooth, Francis, but I shall be angry soon.
2003 Sunday Tel. (Nexis) 9 Nov. 3 So how many times has he spun the yarn? ‘God's teeth, I don't know. Thousands.’
(by) God's will int. Obsolete
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > malediction > oaths > [interjection] > religious oaths (referring to God) > miscellaneous
depardieuc1290
by God's namec1330
by God's roodc1330
by God's eyes1340
God's soul1345
for God's sakec1386
cock's soulc1405
God's armsc1405
by God's dooma1425
(by) (God's) nailsa1500
by God's fast?1515
God's lord?1520
God's sacramenta1529
God's dominusc1530
by God's crown1535
God's bread1535
God's gown1535
God's guts1543
of God's word?1550
God's hat1569
Gods me1570
marry (a) Godc1574
God's malt1575
God's ludd?1577
God's sacring?1577
God's sokinges?1577
trunnion?1577
(by) God's will1579
God's teeth1580
'Shearta1596
God's light1598
by God's me1599
'Snails1599
'Slight1600
God's diggers1602
'Swill1602
od's mea1616
od's my lifea1616
'Sprecious1631
'Sbores1640
odso1660
for sake('s) sake1665
Gad's precious1677
heartlikins1677
od1681
'Sdiggers1687
(Lord) love you (also your heart)1707
God's fury1748
heartikins1751
S'fire1791
nom de Dieu1848
'strewth1892
Lord lumme1895
lumme1898
1579 T. Churchyard Gen. Rehearsall Warres sig. G.ivv For by Gods will quod he (as it is my Lordes earnest woorde) if the Ryngraue lodge so nere my charge, the one of vs bothe shall take little reste.
1599 H. Porter Pleasant Hist. Two Angrie Women of Abington sig. Iv Gods will tis sir Raph Smith.
1601 B. Jonson Every Man in his Humor iv. i. sig. I2v Draw, or by Gods will ile thresh you. View more context for this quotation
a1616 W. Shakespeare Othello (1622) ii. iii. 154 Ho, The Towne will rise, godswill Leiutenant, hold. View more context for this quotation
1884 Little Arthur's Hist. of France xvii. 78 ‘Let the boy win his spurs,’ said he, ‘for by God's will, I desire that all the honour of the day shall be his.’
of God's word int. Obsolete
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > malediction > oaths > [interjection] > religious oaths (referring to God) > miscellaneous
depardieuc1290
by God's namec1330
by God's roodc1330
by God's eyes1340
God's soul1345
for God's sakec1386
cock's soulc1405
God's armsc1405
by God's dooma1425
(by) (God's) nailsa1500
by God's fast?1515
God's lord?1520
God's sacramenta1529
God's dominusc1530
by God's crown1535
God's bread1535
God's gown1535
God's guts1543
of God's word?1550
God's hat1569
Gods me1570
marry (a) Godc1574
God's malt1575
God's ludd?1577
God's sacring?1577
God's sokinges?1577
trunnion?1577
(by) God's will1579
God's teeth1580
'Shearta1596
God's light1598
by God's me1599
'Snails1599
'Slight1600
God's diggers1602
'Swill1602
od's mea1616
od's my lifea1616
'Sprecious1631
'Sbores1640
odso1660
for sake('s) sake1665
Gad's precious1677
heartlikins1677
od1681
'Sdiggers1687
(Lord) love you (also your heart)1707
God's fury1748
heartikins1751
S'fire1791
nom de Dieu1848
'strewth1892
Lord lumme1895
lumme1898
?1550 R. Weaver Lusty Iuventus sig. D.ii This is an ernest fellow of gods worde.
(by) God's wounds int. (also †for God's wounds)
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > malediction > oaths > [interjection] > religious oaths (referring to God) > God's wounds
God's woundsc1460
kocks nownesa1556
nounsa1556
God's bores1578
swounds?1589
zoundsa1593
oons1593
'Snowns1594
wounds1600
od's nounsa1616
Gad's nouns1677
odsoons1694
od zounds1696
zines?1701
swolks1738
zoontersa1763
od's wounds1773
Gadswoons1826
woundikins1836
c1460 in R. Brotanek Mittelengl. Dichtungen MS 432 Trin. Coll. Dublin (1940) 100 Come þens, for goddes woundes fyve..Þou lyest, horesone.
1535 D. Lindsay Satyre 991 That sall I nocht, be Gods wounds.
a1649 A. Weldon Cat may look upon King (1652) 80 Hee instantly gave up the ghost with these words, Gods wounds, I am slain!
1779 Gentleman's Mag. Apr. 204/1 God's wounds, Doughty, what dost thou mean to use this familiarity with me?
1932 R. Macaulay They were Defeated i. ii. 22 God's wounds, ye'd think the country and parliament was run mad, flouting and denying and insulting His Majesty the way they do.
2005 C. J. Farley Kingston by Starlight x. 79 By God's wounds you'd best remember those wise words and work harder at your stations.
(b) With an ordinary noun preceded by an adjective, or (occasionally) an adjective used elliptically. Obsolete.See also God's (also ods, uds) precious (blood, body, heart, etc.) at precious adj. 1b.
ΚΠ
c1405 (c1390) G. Chaucer Melibeus (Hengwrt) (2003) §18 Gladly..by goddes swete pyne.
c1460 (c1390) G. Chaucer Shipman's Tale (Selden) (1868) Prol. l. 13 A-bide for godis digne passion.
a1500 (a1460) Towneley Plays (1994) I. xii. 118 A, Godys dere Dominus, What was that sang?
a1500 (a1460) Towneley Plays (1994) I. xvi. 188 By Gottys dere nalys, I wyll peasse no langer.
1543 Chron. J. Hardyng v. f. lxvi She is a widowe & hath already children. By goddes blessed ladye, I am a bacheler & haue some too.
?1562 Thersytes sig. C.iiiiv Ye that I wyll, by goddes deare brother.
?1562 Thersytes sig. D.iiiv By goddes blessed brother Yf [etc.].
1573 New Custome ii. iii. sig. C iv By goddes glorious woundes hee was worthy of none.
1575 W. Stevenson Gammer Gurtons Nedle v. ii. sig. Ei A great deale more (by Gods blest,) then cheuer by the got.
1608 Merry Deuill of Edmonton sig. C2v By Gods blessed Angell, Thou shalt well know it.
1623 W. Shakespeare & J. Fletcher Henry VIII v. i. 154 Gods blest Mother, I sweare he is true-hearted. View more context for this quotation
(c) With nouns not found in other contexts, probably in most instances altered or fabricated forms.God's bodikins, God's nigs, God's pittikins, God's santy: see the second element. See also Godsokers int., and Gad n.2 and int. Compounds.
(by) God's diggers int. Obsolete
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > malediction > oaths > [interjection] > religious oaths (referring to God) > miscellaneous
depardieuc1290
by God's namec1330
by God's roodc1330
by God's eyes1340
God's soul1345
for God's sakec1386
cock's soulc1405
God's armsc1405
by God's dooma1425
(by) (God's) nailsa1500
by God's fast?1515
God's lord?1520
God's sacramenta1529
God's dominusc1530
by God's crown1535
God's bread1535
God's gown1535
God's guts1543
of God's word?1550
God's hat1569
Gods me1570
marry (a) Godc1574
God's malt1575
God's ludd?1577
God's sacring?1577
God's sokinges?1577
trunnion?1577
(by) God's will1579
God's teeth1580
'Shearta1596
God's light1598
by God's me1599
'Snails1599
'Slight1600
God's diggers1602
'Swill1602
od's mea1616
od's my lifea1616
'Sprecious1631
'Sbores1640
odso1660
for sake('s) sake1665
Gad's precious1677
heartlikins1677
od1681
'Sdiggers1687
(Lord) love you (also your heart)1707
God's fury1748
heartikins1751
S'fire1791
nom de Dieu1848
'strewth1892
Lord lumme1895
lumme1898
1602 W. S. True Chron. Hist. Ld. Cromwell sig. Ev Well Ioane heele come this waye: and by Gods dickers ile tell him roundlie of it.
1647 J. Cleveland Char. London-diurnall 24 Then Roger was inspir'd, and by Gods-diggers, Hee'l sweare in words at large, and not in figures.
1688 T. D'Urfey Fool's Preferment iv. 66 The Gentlevolkes are huge loving, an't like your Worship, Godsdiggers, I was afraid they would have Buss'd me too.
God's dominus int. [compare God's lord int. at Phrases 3b(a)] Obsolete
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > malediction > oaths > [interjection] > religious oaths (referring to God) > miscellaneous
depardieuc1290
by God's namec1330
by God's roodc1330
by God's eyes1340
God's soul1345
for God's sakec1386
cock's soulc1405
God's armsc1405
by God's dooma1425
(by) (God's) nailsa1500
by God's fast?1515
God's lord?1520
God's sacramenta1529
God's dominusc1530
by God's crown1535
God's bread1535
God's gown1535
God's guts1543
of God's word?1550
God's hat1569
Gods me1570
marry (a) Godc1574
God's malt1575
God's ludd?1577
God's sacring?1577
God's sokinges?1577
trunnion?1577
(by) God's will1579
God's teeth1580
'Shearta1596
God's light1598
by God's me1599
'Snails1599
'Slight1600
God's diggers1602
'Swill1602
od's mea1616
od's my lifea1616
'Sprecious1631
'Sbores1640
odso1660
for sake('s) sake1665
Gad's precious1677
heartlikins1677
od1681
'Sdiggers1687
(Lord) love you (also your heart)1707
God's fury1748
heartikins1751
S'fire1791
nom de Dieu1848
'strewth1892
Lord lumme1895
lumme1898
c1530 A. Barclay Egloges i. sig. B.ivv Losse, goddys domynus to lose..thou hast no good Saue hoke and cokers, thy botell and thy hood.
(by) God's ludd int. Obsolete
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > malediction > oaths > [interjection] > religious oaths (referring to God) > miscellaneous
depardieuc1290
by God's namec1330
by God's roodc1330
by God's eyes1340
God's soul1345
for God's sakec1386
cock's soulc1405
God's armsc1405
by God's dooma1425
(by) (God's) nailsa1500
by God's fast?1515
God's lord?1520
God's sacramenta1529
God's dominusc1530
by God's crown1535
God's bread1535
God's gown1535
God's guts1543
of God's word?1550
God's hat1569
Gods me1570
marry (a) Godc1574
God's malt1575
God's ludd?1577
God's sacring?1577
God's sokinges?1577
trunnion?1577
(by) God's will1579
God's teeth1580
'Shearta1596
God's light1598
by God's me1599
'Snails1599
'Slight1600
God's diggers1602
'Swill1602
od's mea1616
od's my lifea1616
'Sprecious1631
'Sbores1640
odso1660
for sake('s) sake1665
Gad's precious1677
heartlikins1677
od1681
'Sdiggers1687
(Lord) love you (also your heart)1707
God's fury1748
heartikins1751
S'fire1791
nom de Dieu1848
'strewth1892
Lord lumme1895
lumme1898
?1577 Misogonus in R. W. Bond Early Plays from Ital. (1911) 249 Gods ludd I near left my booke till I cam to the houre a catar waulinge.
1606 G. Chapman Sir Gyles Goosecappe i. i. sig. B By gods ludd thy Surname is neuer thought vpon here, I perceiue heeres no bodie giues thee any commendations.
by God's me int. Obsolete
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > malediction > oaths > [interjection] > religious oaths (referring to God) > miscellaneous
depardieuc1290
by God's namec1330
by God's roodc1330
by God's eyes1340
God's soul1345
for God's sakec1386
cock's soulc1405
God's armsc1405
by God's dooma1425
(by) (God's) nailsa1500
by God's fast?1515
God's lord?1520
God's sacramenta1529
God's dominusc1530
by God's crown1535
God's bread1535
God's gown1535
God's guts1543
of God's word?1550
God's hat1569
Gods me1570
marry (a) Godc1574
God's malt1575
God's ludd?1577
God's sacring?1577
God's sokinges?1577
trunnion?1577
(by) God's will1579
God's teeth1580
'Shearta1596
God's light1598
by God's me1599
'Snails1599
'Slight1600
God's diggers1602
'Swill1602
od's mea1616
od's my lifea1616
'Sprecious1631
'Sbores1640
odso1660
for sake('s) sake1665
Gad's precious1677
heartlikins1677
od1681
'Sdiggers1687
(Lord) love you (also your heart)1707
God's fury1748
heartikins1751
S'fire1791
nom de Dieu1848
'strewth1892
Lord lumme1895
lumme1898
1599 H. Porter Pleasant Hist. Two Angrie Women of Abington sig. I4 Yet by Gods me, Ile take no wrong.
1616 B. Jonson Euery Man in his Humor (rev. ed.) iii. v. in Wks. 40 By gods mee, I marle, what pleasure, or felicitie they haue in taking this roguish tabacco! it's good for nothing, but to choke a man.
God's sokinges int. Obsolete
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > malediction > oaths > [interjection] > religious oaths (referring to God) > miscellaneous
depardieuc1290
by God's namec1330
by God's roodc1330
by God's eyes1340
God's soul1345
for God's sakec1386
cock's soulc1405
God's armsc1405
by God's dooma1425
(by) (God's) nailsa1500
by God's fast?1515
God's lord?1520
God's sacramenta1529
God's dominusc1530
by God's crown1535
God's bread1535
God's gown1535
God's guts1543
of God's word?1550
God's hat1569
Gods me1570
marry (a) Godc1574
God's malt1575
God's ludd?1577
God's sacring?1577
God's sokinges?1577
trunnion?1577
(by) God's will1579
God's teeth1580
'Shearta1596
God's light1598
by God's me1599
'Snails1599
'Slight1600
God's diggers1602
'Swill1602
od's mea1616
od's my lifea1616
'Sprecious1631
'Sbores1640
odso1660
for sake('s) sake1665
Gad's precious1677
heartlikins1677
od1681
'Sdiggers1687
(Lord) love you (also your heart)1707
God's fury1748
heartikins1751
S'fire1791
nom de Dieu1848
'strewth1892
Lord lumme1895
lumme1898
?1577 Misogonus in R. W. Bond Early Plays from Ital. (1911) 195 Gods sokinges houlde your handes.
(d) Occasionally with the noun omitted.
ΚΠ
?1576 Common Condicions sig. Diij Ah Gods, now farewell Phrygia soyle.
1613 F. Beaumont Knight of Burning Pestle i. sig. D1 Bid the plaiers send Rafe, or by Gods—and they do not [etc.].
(e) In expressions blending Phrases 3b(a) and Phrases 1c(b)(ii) (where save is omitted or contracted), as God's my arms, God's my passion, God's my pity, etc. Obsolete (archaic in later use).
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > malediction > oaths > [interjection] > religious oaths (referring to God) > God's passion
God's passionc1460
by God's pinea1500
for God's paina1500
cock's passion1535
for the pashe of God?1553
God's my passion?1577
?1577 Misogonus in R. W. Bond Early Plays from Ital. (1911) 189 Godes my armes sticke not to drawe your sworde.
1599 G. Chapman Humerous Dayes Myrth sig. Bv Gods my passion what haue I done?
1604 T. Dekker & T. Middleton Honest Whore ii. i. 52 Gods my pittikins, some foole or other knocks.
1604 T. Dekker & T. Middleton Honest Whore sig. D1 Nay, Gods my pitty, what an asse is that Citizen to lend mony of a Lord.
1638 W. Rowley Shoo-maker a Gentleman iv. sig. G4v Hence you Whore-master knave, Gods my passion, got a wench with childe..: Precious coales, you are a fine youth indeed.
1865 A. C. Swinburne Chastelard iv. i. 156 God's my pity! Where's Hamilton? doth she ail too?
c. In asseverations, as as God is my judge, as God is my witness, †so God me bless, †so God me mend, etc. Also with omission of so or as, and occasional alteration of the verb. Cf. as conj. 13, so adv. and conj. 19.so help me God, so God me rede, so God me speed, so God save me: see the verbs.marry (a) God: see marry int. 2a. [With as God is my witness compare post-classical Latin Deo teste (13th cent. in a British source).]
ΚΠ
c1330 (?a1300) Sir Tristrem (1886) l. 655 (MED) Child, so god þe rede, How were þou fram rohand lorn?
c1380 Sir Ferumbras (1879) l. 1575 ‘Wolleþ ȝe ȝou defende?’..‘Ȝea, so god me mende.’
c1405 (c1390) G. Chaucer Thopas/Melibeus Link (Hengwrt) (2003) l. 4 Also wisly god my soule blesse Myne erys aken of thy drasty speche.
a1500 (a1460) Towneley Plays (1994) I. xiii. 149 No, so God me blys.
1589 Rare Triumphes Loue & Fortune iv. sig. D.ivv As god iuggle me when I came neere them [etc.].
1601 B. Jonson Every Man in his Humor iv. i. sig. H4v As Gods my iudge, they should haue kild me first. View more context for this quotation
1601 B. Jonson Every Man in his Humor ii. ii. sig. Ev I am asham'd of this base course of life (God's my comfort) but [etc.] . View more context for this quotation
1620 F. Beaumont & J. Fletcher Phylaster iv. 48 God iudge me, I vnderstand you not.
1761 London Mag. Dec. 670/1 How they should be bloody, as God is my saviour, I cannot answer.
1842 Ld. Tennyson Lady Clare in Poems (new ed.) II. 196 ‘As God's above!’ said Alice the nurse, ‘I speak the truth: you are my child.’
1893 E. Saltus Madam Sapphira 133 As God is my witness that girl is as straight as your sister.
1936 M. Mitchell Gone with the Wind xxv. 428 As God is my witness, as God is my witness, the Yankees aren't going to lick me. I'm going to live through this, and when it's over, I'm never going to be hungry again.
1974 B. Friel Freedom of City in Sel. Plays (1984) 157 As God's my judge he was stuck in it for two days and two nights.
2005 Z. Smith On Beauty 427 I am gonna strike you down where you stand, as God is my witness, I will wear your ass out today.
P4. In phrases not referring to a single Supreme Being.
a. the god of this world [after post-classical Latin deus huius saeculi (Vulgate)] : the Devil, regarded as controlling or holding sway over the temporal world.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the supernatural > deity > a devil > the Devil or Satan > [noun]
devileOE
Beelzebubc950
the foul ghosteOE
SatanOE
warlockOE
SatanasOE
worsea1200
unwinea1225
wondc1250
quedea1275
pucka1300
serpenta1300
dragon1340
shrew1362
Apollyon1382
the god of this worldc1384
Mahoundc1400
leviathan1412
worsta1425
old enemyc1449
Ruffin1567
dismal1570
Plotcocka1578
the Wicked One1582
goodman1603
Mahu1603
foul thief1609
somebody1609
legiona1616
Lord of Flies1622
walliman1629
shaitan1638
Old Nicka1643
Nick1647
unsel?1675
old gentleman1681
old boy1692
the gentleman in black1693
deuce1694
Black Spy1699
the vicious one1713
worricow1719
Old Roger1725
Lord of the Flies1727
Simmie1728
Old Scratch1734
Old Harry1777
Old Poker1784
Auld Hornie1786
old (auld), ill thief1789
old one1790
little-good1821
Tom Walker1833
bogy1840
diabolarch1845
Old Ned1859
iniquity1899
c1384 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(2)) (1850) 2 Cor. iv. 4 In whiche the God of this world [L. deus huius saeculi] hath blyndid the soules of men out of the bileue.
?c1450 (?a1400) J. Wyclif Eng. Wks. (1880) 370 Ȝif þe gospel is hid, it is hid to hem þat perschen, in þe whiche god of þis worlde haþ blyndid þe mynde of unfeiþful men.
1543 T. Becon New Yeares Gyfte sig. E.v Satan the God of this worlde, had blynded our mindes, that we should not beleue, vnlesse the lyghte of the glorious gospell of Christ, whiche is the Image of God, should shyne vnto vs.
1612 W. Sclater Christians Strength Ep. Ded. sig. A2 Wee fight not against flesh and bloud: wee encounter and conquer, yea overconquer the God of this world.
a1744 I. Terry Sixteen Serm. (1746) 213 This World and its Inhabitants are frequently represented as under the Dominion of the Devil. For he is called the God of this World.
1834 J. Hambleton in Brit. Pulpit (1839) 1 180 The god of this world holds such multitudes in his iron bondage.
1875 H. Read (title) The God of this world: the footprints of Satan: or, the devil in history.
1965 D. M. Lloyd Jones Spiritual Depression v. 75 Unfortunately it is true I was blinded by the god of this world, but thank God His grace was more abundant.
1994 Third Way Mar. 4/2 Only those who have been blinded by the god of this world deny that private and public conduct are to some extent linked.
b. to play the god: to play the part of a god; to attempt to control people or events; to interfere in matters regarded as beyond the (appropriate) sphere of human influence.
ΚΠ
1578 T. Churchyard Disc. Queenes Entertainem. sig. Diijv To play the God, fye foolish boy, leaue of these toyes in time,..Thou art not of the race of Gods, thou art some Beggers chitte.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Othello (1622) ii. iii. 338 As her appetite shall play the god With his weake function. View more context for this quotation
1738 W. Robinson Poems on Several Occasions in Intriguing Milliners 67 Ingenious Hogarth..plays the God with all he draws!
1766 T. Amory Life John Buncle II. xiii. 491 His breeding and his eloquence..induced me to fancy him an angel of a man... For three months he played the god, and I fondly thought there was not such another happy woman as myself in all the world.
1851 H. Spencer Social Statics xxxii. 475 We are not to be guilty of that practical atheism, which, seeing no guidance for human affairs but its own limited foresight, endeavours itself to play the god.
1870 S. Winkworth tr. C. C. J. Bunsen God in Hist. III. vi. iv. 328 When Alexander played the god, his life and empire were forfeited.
1966 W. H. Stone Cave & Mountain xii. 322 Ronny, accused by his mother of playing the god and enjoying it.
c. a feast, sight, etc. (fit) for the gods: a delightful or amazing feast, sight, etc.
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1584 R. Greene Morando sig. E.iv Leaue of to inueigh against Loue, since it is a labour fit for the Gods.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Julius Caesar (1623) ii. i. 173 Let's carue him, as a Dish fit for the Gods. View more context for this quotation
1861 Amer. Agriculturist Jan. 19/1 It is pronounced ‘fine’, ‘super-excellent’, ‘food fit for the gods!’
1883 Harper's Mag. Aug. 456/1 He considered pepper-pot a dish fit for the gods.
1898 Tit-Bits 21 May 154/2 The avidity with which they polished off joss candles was a sight for the gods.
1938 Scotsman 19 Aug. 14/2 To people out of sorts with life,..they provided a feast fit for the gods.
2002 Best of Brit. Nov. 49/2 At Christmas we can still run to a can of the 1943 Spam as a treat... If you can find a good can of the '43 what's not blown, that's food fit for the gods.
d. ye gods (and little fishes)!: used to express indignation, disbelief, or amazement, esp. in a consciously archaic or grandiose way.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > expectation > feeling of wonder, astonishment > exclamation of wonder [interjection] > mingled with indignation
ye gods (and little fishes)!1761
?1534 R. Whittington tr. Cicero Paradox sig. D.iiiiv O ye goddes immortall [L. O di immortales!], men knowe not how great a gayne or profyte is for a man to be a sparer and a sauer.]
1672 J. Dryden Conquest Granada ii. iii. iii. 116 Ye gods, why are not Hearts first pair'd above!
1709 Brit. Apollo 3–5 Aug. Her Coughing and Squelching, Her F..ting and Belch[in]g, Ye Gods, what a Consort is here!
1761 J. Boswell Let. 17 Dec. in Lett. A. Erskine & J. Boswell (1763) 56 It is Captain Andrew! It is! it is! Ye Gods! he seizes! he opens! he reads!
1807 C. Wilmot Let. 15 May in M. Wilmot & C. Wilmot Russ. Jrnls. (1934) ii. 243 Oh! ye Gods! How you are to be envied & every Mortal alive.
1820 Mrs. Purcell Orientalist I. v. 83 Ye gods and little fishes! what roses and lilies—pink, satin, and sable.
1871 L. M. Alcott Little Men ii. 27 But out of school,—Ye gods and little fishes! how Tommy did carouse!
1909 H. G. Wells Ann Veronica i. 9Ye gods!’ she said at last. ‘What a place!’
1964 W. Markfield To Early Grave (1965) xi. 187 He cried to himself ‘Ye Gods!’ and ‘Whoosh!’
1992 L. Marks & M. Gran New Statesman 74 Ye Gods and little fishes, that it should come to this!
e. god from (also out of) the (or a) machine: = deus ex machina n. [After post-classical Latin deus ex machina and its etymon ancient Greek θεὸς ἐκ μηχανῆς (see deus ex machina n.).]
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > easiness > aid, help, or assistance > types of help > [noun] > providential assistance
god from (also out of) the (or a) machine1676
deus ex machina1697
1676 tr. G. Guillet de Saint-Georges Acct. Voy. Athens iii. 304 As the Criticks in Rome upon the same occasion were wont to say, Deus è Machina; Now for a God from a Machine.
1735 Bayle's Gen. Dict. Hist. & Crit. (new ed.) II. 484/2 The best expedient, when such disputes arise, is to have recourse to the secular Arm, like a God from a machine, in order to cut the knot.
1869 A. Trollope Phineas Finn I. xxxi. 257 A gallant young member of that House..had appeared upon the spot at the nick of time;—‘As a god out of a machine,’ said Mr. Daubeny, interrupting him.
1888 R. Kipling Soldiers Three 1 (title of story) The god from the machine.
1910 G. K. Chesterton George Bernard Shaw 116 Shaw..disliked the god from the machine—because he was from a machine.
1959 Listener 26 Nov. 911/2 The heads of government of the Great Powers are not gods from the machine.
1999 S. Rushdie Ground beneath her Feet (2000) xiii. 407 This gift which India, greatest of all gods from the machine, has just dropped into their astonished laps.
f. Proverbs.
(a) whom the gods would destroy they first make mad and variants. [Apparently after post-classical Latin quos Deus vult perdere prius dementat, lit. ‘those who God wants to perish, he first makes mad’ (1607 or earlier), itself perhaps after Hellenistic Greek ὄταν ὁ δαίμων ἀνδρὶ πορσύνῃ κακά, τὸν νοῦν ἔβλαψε πρῶτον, lit. ‘when a spirit prepares evil for a man, he first confuses the mind’, apparently quoted from an earlier source in Athenagoras of Athens Legatio sive Supplicatio pro Christianis, chap. 26 section 2; compare also a very similar passage in Scholia (Byzantine Greek or earlier) on Sophocles Antigone 620. A former attribution of the proverb to Euripides cannot be confirmed.]
ΚΠ
1804 M. Edgeworth Murad i. in Pop. Tales (ed. 2) II. 13 Whom the Gods wish to destroy, they first deprive of understanding.
1875 M. Thompson Hoosier Mosaics 180 Whom the gods would destroy they first make mad.
1997 P. K. Chadwick Schizophrenia Pref. p. xi ‘Whom the gods wish to destroy, they first make mad.’ A saying more likely to spread prejudice against the seriously mentally ill it is difficult to imagine.
(b) whom the gods love die young. [After classical Latin quem dī dīligunt adulēscēns moritur ( Plautus Bacchides l. 816-817), itself after ancient Greek ὅν οἱ θεοὶ ϕιλοῦσιν ἀποθνήισκει νέος ( Menander Dis Exapaton frag. 4).]
ΚΠ
1546 W. Hugh Troubled Mans Med. ii. sig. B.viiiv But among all other, saith the great poete Menander: Most happy be they and best belouid of god, that dye whan they be yong.]
1821 Ld. Byron Don Juan: Canto IV xii. 77Whom the gods love die young’ was said of yore.
1878 R. L. Stevenson Aes Triplex in Cornhill Mag. Apr. 437 When the Greeks made their fine saying that those whom the gods love die young, I cannot help believing they had this sort of death also in their eye.
1972 A. Price Col. Butler's Wolf xx. 224Whom the gods love die young’, the war taught us that.
g. on the knees of the gods: see knee n. 2c. in the lap of the gods: see lap n.1 5c.

Compounds

C1.
a. General use as a modifier.
(a) With first element in singular form.
god-belly n. Obsolete
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1540 R. Wisdome in J. Strype Eccl. Memorials (1822) I. ii. App. 473 This article [disbelief in masses for the dead] they take for my greatest Heresie. For indede this wringeth their God-belly, that his eyes water for pain.
1675 J. Smith Christian Relig. Appeal ii. 20 That devouring God-belly-gulph Heliogabalus.
god clan n. [originally after Swedish gudaklan (1886 in the passage translated in quot. 1889)]
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1889 R. B. Anderson tr. V. Rydberg Teutonic Mythol. 142 One of the god-clans [Sw. af gudaklanerna] has committed the murder.
2008 M. Skye Goddess Afoot! 207 To cut off Sif's hair shows a lack of respect for her, as well as for her entire god clan, known as the Aesir.
God-consciousness n. [after German Gottesbewusstsein (1812)]
ΚΠ
1841 H. J. Rose tr. A. Neander Hist. Christian Relig. & Church II. 235 Even the common God-consciousness [Ger . Gottesbewusstseyn], the consciousness of the God, in whom we live and move and have our being, received a new impulse from Christianity.
1894 G. M. Grant Relig. World ii. 29 The God-consciousness of Israel expanded under the leadership of a long succession of prophets and psalmists.
1914 F. B. Wilson Man of Tomorrow (title page) Human evolution impelling man onward to God-consciousness.
2009 Herald-Times (Bloomington, Indiana) 22 Aug. a8/1 Ramadan was prescribed by God so that the Muslims can achieve ‘taqwa’, or God-consciousness.
god-folk n.
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1876 W. Morris Story of Sigurd iii. 217 The kin of the God-folk.
1916 V. S. Howard tr. S. Lagerlöf Emperor or Portugallia 18 He argued with himself that it was wrong in him to borrow trouble, when his child had such godfolk as the master and mistress of Falla.
1993 R. Shell iCED 111 And I shouldn't cuss Jehovah's Witnesses because they're God Folk and you gotta be careful how you treat or think of God Folk because they can get in your chest and under your skin.
god-Greek n. Obsolete
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1844 E. B. Barrett Dead Pan in Poems II. 266 Shall..no hero take inspiring From the God-Greek of her lips?
1862 John Bull 15 Nov. 731/1 A translator of Homer has to turn that wonderful ‘god-Greek’ into English.
God-idea n.
ΚΠ
1843 Standard 28 Jan. What is the God-idea promulgated for?—To subjugate the many for the benefit of the few.
1869 H. Tuttle (title) The career of the God-idea in history.
1910 E. S. Ames Psychol. Relig. Experience 319 The God-idea is a teleological idea.
1949 Horizon Mar. 225 However primary and archetypical the God-idea may be.
2012 Evening Gaz. (Nexis) 25 Feb. 12 I assume that Mr Potts would remain a good person without the God idea?
god-kin n. [in quot. 2003 translating post-classical Latin commater commother n. (from a medieval source); compare Middle English godsibbe (see gossip n. 1).]
ΚΠ
1876 W. Morris Story of Sigurd iv. 379 Round the fettered and bound they throng As men in the bitter battle round the God-kin over-strong.
2003 D. L. Smail Consumption of Justice 105 Uga, moreover, was Tomas's god-kin, a spiritual relationship that would more or less exclude the possibility of a profound social gulf between them.
god-light n.
ΚΠ
1838 E. B. Barrett Seraphim & Other Poems 194 Or Poet Plato, had th' undim Unsetting Godlight broke on him.
1867 P. J. Bailey Universal Hymn 6 Moon, whose gleam Reflective, types the God-light, wherewith shines Man's soul.
1909 E. Gosse Autumn Garden 19 O million shafts of pines, On each of whom the god-light shines, In you the miracle I see Of multitude in unity.
2004 I. McDonald River of Gods (2005) xlvi. 546 The god-light fading into the background microwave hum of the universe.
god-love n.
ΚΠ
a1711 T. Ken Hymnotheo iv, in Wks. (1721) III. 109 The holy Jesus..Co-effluent God-Love on his Spirit shed.
a1881 S. Lanier Poems (1908) 76 Wife-love flies level, his dear mate to seek: God-love darts straight into the skies above.
1935 M. R. Anand Untouchable 205 Gandhi..will teach us the true religion of God-love which is the best swaraj (self-government).
1993 Time 15 Mar. 24 Here is the paradox of God-love as a life-force that is capable of transforming itself into a death-force.
God-murder n. [originally after post-classical Latin deicidium (1535 or earlier: see deicide n.2); compare God-slaughter n.]
ΚΠ
1647 J. Trapp Comm. Evangelists & Acts (1 John iii. 15) 474 By like reason we may say that sin is God-murther.
?1842 G. J. Holyoake Spirit of Bonner in Disciples of Jesus (ed. 2) 5 From the days of Constantine to the god-murders perpetrated on the fields of Rathcormac, Christianity has swam in blood.
1998 R. K. Hughes Luke II. xxxiii. 257 Their crime, which would take place within the week, was not just homicide but deicide—God-murder!
God-slaughter n. [after post-classical Latin deicidium deicide n.2; compare manslaughter n.; compare also God-murder n.]
ΚΠ
1647 J. Trapp Mellificium Theol. in Comm. Epist. & Rev. 730 This is Deicidium, God-slaughter.
1842 Boston Investigator 22 June If I should ever..wish to commit a spiritual murder, or God-slaughter.
2006 B. Henderson Simple Gifts (2008) iv. 149 ‘There Is a Balm in Gilead’ wants none of this God-slaughter.
god-state n.
ΚΠ
1811 F. Jeffrey Let. 25 Jan. in Ld. Cockburn Life Ld. Jeffrey (1852) II. 131 Murray is in great preservation—a little too bustling and anxious for my epicurean god state.
1852 P. J. Bailey Festus (ed. 5) 412 He in the God-state first..passed away.
2007 J. Goldberg Liberal Fascism vi. 234 The Social Gospellers were mostly postmillennialists in their aspirations: they believed the Hegelian God-state was the kingdom of heaven on earth.
(b) Appositive.
god-Caesar n.
ΚΠ
1881 A. J. Thébaud Church & Moral World ii. i. 191 To offer incense to idols or to the image of the god-Cæsar.
1920 H. G. Wells Outl. Hist. 282/2 He [sc. the Jew] stood out manfully against the worship of any god-Caesar.
1991 S. Waller tr. H. K. Fierz Jungian Psychiatry xxi. 395 The regression to the God-Caesar was hollow.
god-crocodile n.
ΚΠ
a1661 B. Holyday in tr. Juvenal Satyres (1673) 272 Whiles..the god-crocodile seem'd tame, all was well.
1796 tr. C.-F. Volney Ruins (ed. 3) xxii. 251 Thus the God Ichneumon made war against the God crocodile; the God wolf wanted to eat the God sheep; the God stork devoured the God serpent.
2002 Charleston (W. Va.) Gaz. (Nexis) 7 Mar. One legend says that the original settlers rode on the back of a giant god-crocodile into the midst of the lake to start their homes.
god-fire n. [in quot. 1884 after Sanskrit deva god (see deva n.) + agni fire (see ignite v.), apparently by folk-etymological interpretation of the name Devāṅgan]
ΚΠ
1638 T. Herbert Some Yeares Trav. (rev. ed.) i. 52 This their God-fire is not composed of common combustibles.
1884 Gazetteer Bombay Presidency XVII. 133 (note) Their descendants are called Devágni or god-fire Bráhmans.
2002 K. Reimann Prince of Fire & Ashes xxvi. 457 Tullier..screamed, his clothes bursting into flame, the God-fire searing his skin.
God-foe n. [after ancient Greek ἀντίθεος (see etymology at anti- prefix)] Obsolete
ΚΠ
?1614 G. Chapman tr. Homer Odysses i. 4 The God-foe Polypheme [Gk. ἀντίθεον Πολύϕημον].
god-king n. [with appositive uses compare German Gottkönig (17th cent. or earlier)]
ΚΠ
1831 London Lit. Gaz. 29 Jan. 68/3 The identity of the god-king Oden, or Woden, with Buddha and Mercury, is confirmed beyond all dispute.
1862 H. Spencer First Princ. ii. ii. §48. 159 All titles of honour are originally the names of the god-king.
1954 Life 22 Feb. 83/1 The cathedral doors opened and the 10-year-old God-King stepped slowly out, supported to right and left by two abbots.
2002 Church Times 31 May 8/3 It was not to be just any Hindu temple: it would mark the place where the god-king Ram was born.
god mercer n. Obsolete
ΚΠ
a1640 P. Massinger & J. Fletcher Very Woman iii. i. 132 in P. Massinger 3 New Playes (1655) They have new Creators, God Tailor, and God Mercer.
god-ram n. Obsolete
ΚΠ
1772 T. Nugent tr. J. F. de Isla Hist. Friar Gerund I. 522 Building to the God-Ram [Sp. Dios Carnero] the first temple.
(c) With first element in plural form.
gods-avengers n. Obsolete
ΚΠ
1869 W. E. Gladstone Juventus Mundi xv. §3 527 That under~ground region, in which dwelt the Gods-Avengers, and which was the realm of Aïdes and Persephone.
gods-guardians n. Obsolete
ΚΠ
1610 J. Healey tr. St. Augustine Citie of God iii. xiv. 125 For all the helpe of these gods-guardians [L. diis praesidibus], there was not one King of them that continued his raigne in peace.
1876 J. P. Newman Sermons 303 I prefer the good old Protestant way, going directly to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Away with your gods-protectors, your gods-guardians!
1911 A. C. Gaebelein Prophet Daniel (ed. 2) xi. 182 These gods guardians, the Virgin Mary, saints, and angels, were utterly unknown, as mediators and invocable guardians, in the primitive apostolic church.
b. Objective.
(a) With agent nouns.
God-hater n. [in quot. 1618 paraphrasing Psalm 83:2]
ΚΠ
1618 T. Adams Happines of Church i. 25 He calls them Gods enemies, tumultuous, proud, God-haters.
1643 J. Vicars (title) A looking-glasse for malignants. Or, Gods hand against God-haters.
1884 Catholic World June 328 The incisive cynic and God-hater, Voltaire.
2005 Evening Standard (Nexis) 11 May 41 Bruckner's seventh promised a heavenly immortality that a God-hater like Hitler regarded as his divine right.
God-maker n.
ΚΠ
?1531 R. Barnes Supplic. Kinge Henrye VIII f. C.xxxiiiv Now wolde I know of these new godmakers by whose power and helpe yt the fyrste sayncte came in to heuen.
1721–6 W. Byrd Commonplace Bk. (2001) 120 One of his captains thought it too gross, after complementing Alexander with being the offspring of a God to allow him also to be a God-maker.
1875 M. Arnold Isa. xl–lxvi. Notes 122 This God-maker is hungry and faint, even at the very time that he is at his God-making.
1995 New Scientist 21 Jan. 49/2 Let the word-spinners and god-makers keep it for their own.
God-monger n.
ΚΠ
1842 Oracle of Reason 1 406/2 I would seriously advise him..to leave the god-mongers to fight their own battles.
1883 J. Parker Apostolic Life II. 206 You will be but jostling a whole crowd of god-mongers.
2004 Halifax (Nova Scotia) Daily News (Nexis) 11 Mar. 16 God-mongers such as Rush Limbaugh and Jimmy Swaggart seem particularly susceptible to this phenomenon.
God-murderer n. [compare God-murder n. at Compounds 1a(a); compare earlier God-hater n. and also God-slayer n.; compare further deicide n.1]
ΚΠ
1647 J. Trapp Comm. Epist. & Rev. (Rom. i. 30) 5 Haters of God. And so God-murtherers.
1861 Times 1 Mar. 9 It is the Emperor who has absolved himself in vain. So he is ‘God-murderer’.
2009 M. Small & V. Shayne Remember Us 16 The Gentiles could not escape from a long tradition of thinking of us as Christ-killers and God murderers.
God-slayer n. [compare God-slaughter n. at Compounds 1a(a); compare earlier God-hater n. and also God-murderer n.; compare further deicide n.1]
ΚΠ
1647 J. Trapp Comm. Epist. & Rev. (Coloss. i. 21) 262 Haters of God..and so God-slaiers.
1877 P. G. Medd Sermons viii. 81 He would be a God-slayer, too, if that were possible, and would sit alone and supreme over the wreck that he had made.
2005 J. Carey (title) Godslayer.
(b) With present participles and verbal nouns. See also God-fearing adj., God-loving adj.
God-adoring adj.
ΚΠ
1642 J. Vicars God in Mount 64 That pair royall of God-adoring Hebrews.
a1711 T. Ken Hymnotheo in Wks. (1721) III. 326 A God-adoring Race.
2005 Pittsburgh Tribune Rev. (Nexis) 16 May The best illustration of a newly pious face with God-adoring oratory.
God-affronting adj.
ΚΠ
1660 T. Watson Beatitudes 233 Unbelief is a God-affronting sin.
a1693 M. Bruce Good News in Evil Times (1708) 10 The most God-affronting Perjury.
a1860 W. B. Weed Sermons (1861) xxxviii. 401 A self-polluted, God-outraging Adam was my father; and I his no less self-polluted, no less God-affronting son!
2008 Deadspin (Nexis) 11 Feb. For the rest of his God-affronting career.
God-bearing adj. [after Hellenistic Greek θεοτόκος (see Theotokos n.)]
ΚΠ
1635 A. Stafford Femall Glory 210 We doe beleeve..that the wombe of the God-bearing Virgin, and the Temple of the holy Ghost, that is, her sacred body, to have beene assumed into heaven.
1885 W. de G. Birch Life King Harold Prol. 105 The glorious and God-bearing Cross.
1999 L. Kennedy All in Mind v. 99 At the Council of Ephesus..it was agreed that Mary should be deemed theotokos, literally God-bearing and therefore Mother of God.
God-contemning adj. Obsolete
ΚΠ
1621 G. Sandys tr. Ovid First Five Bks. Metamorphosis i. 6 A God contemning Race [L. contemptrix superum], Greedie of slaughter.
a1649 W. Drummond Wks. (1711) 33/1 Men awless, lawless live..a God-contemning Race.
1854 Times 15 June 9/6 The punishment of God-contemning beings.
God-despising adj.
ΚΠ
a1649 W. Drummond Wks. (1711) 34/2 God-despising Wights.
1853 ‘M. Twain’ Let. 28 Nov. (1987) I. 29 I never..before saw so many whisky-swilling, God-despising heathens as I find in this part of the country.
2010 J. Leeman Church & Surprising Offense of God's Love i. i. 73 In our individualistic, skeptical, anti-authority, God-despising age, we are instinctively repulsed by the idea of being bound by anything.
God-detesting adj.
ΚΠ
a1711 T. Ken Hymnarium 111 in Wks. (1721) II. The Sin, which..from the God-detesting Spirit streams.
2002 Salon.com (Nexis) 14 Jan. The bitter, fantastic outbursts of his God-detesting old age.
God-disowning adj.
ΚΠ
1684 J. Main in Cloud of Witnesses (1714) 334 I declare it to be a horrid wickedness, a God-disowning and a God-daring course.
1895 J. Smith Perm. Message Exod. xv. 250 This God-disowning, good-defying spirit.
1968 K. Cragg Christianity in World Perspective v. 141 The world of self-centred, idol building, religious preening, God disowning, humanity to which we all belong.
2003 W. M. Swartley Homosexuality v. 83 Might western culture have become a God-disowning culture similar to that spoken of in Romans 1:18–32?
God-dissembling adj. Obsolete
ΚΠ
1718 N. Rowe tr. Lucan Pharsalia 180 The wily, fearful, God-dissembling Maid.
1876 W. H. M. H. Aitken Ten Days' Mission (ed. 3) xii. 193 It is ‘working’ now—the apostle tells us—this God-dissembling power—‘Mystery of iniquity!’ the travesty of Divine Omnipotence, instituted by the malignant ingenuity of hell!
God-dreading n. and adj.
ΚΠ
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 29205 Þe gift o wijt, of vnder-standing, O consail, strenght, o gode dreding.
1906 Amer. Educ. Jan. 266/1 That God-dreading code of Blue Laws.
1988 Los Angeles Times 26 June (Bk. Review) 11/3 He..tells the God-dreading Lark, ‘It makes me sad you're sullen..because I know God hates sullen people.’
God-estranging adj. Obsolete
ΚΠ
1667 J. Janeway Heaven upon Earth 353 Unbelief..is one of those dreadful and God-estranging sins, which leads on whole Legions against the Almighty.
1897 Presbyterian & Reformed Rev. 8 602 Sin is not with them the utterly vile, criminal, God-defying and God-estranging thing which it is with Paul and with John.
God-forgetting adj.
ΚΠ
1644 W. Barton Bk. Psalms 15 The wicked shall be turn'd to Hell, These God-forgetting men.
1850 T. Carlyle Latter-day Pamphlets iv. 39 Putrid unveracities and godforgetting greedinesses.
1883 Cent. Mag. Aug. 535/1 Benighted, bewildered, sniffing, sneering, God-forgetting unfortunates as we are?
2005 M. Lickona Swimming with Scapulars iii. 199 I am hoping that the shock of cold will rouse me from my God-forgetting material stupor.
God-gastering adj. [ < god n. + gastering, present participle of gaster v.] Obsolete
ΚΠ
1603 S. Harsnett Declar. Popish Impostures 73 The God-gastring Giants, whom Jupiter overwhelmed with Pelion and Ossa.
1607 R. C. tr. H. Estienne World of Wonders i. i. 20 They tell vs strange tales of god-gastering Giants, who heaped mightie mountains one vpon another.
God-hymning adj. Obsolete
ΚΠ
a1711 T. Ken Urania in Wks. (1721) IV. 448 God-hymning Saints.
1881 G. A. Jackson tr. in Fathers of Third Cent. II. 106/2 Sweet the life Of the God-hymning, O Christ Jesus.
God-intenerating adj. [ < god n. + intenerating adj. at intenerate v. Derivatives] Obsolete
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a1711 T. Ken Urania in Wks. (1721) IV. 519 God-intenerating Pray'rs.
God-killing n. and adj. [with early uses compare God-murder n. at Compounds 1a(a) and also deicide n.2; in quot. 1877 after Maori tā atua ( < to strike + atua atua n.)]
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1674 E. Calamy et al. Saints Memorials 177 Sin is by some of the Antients called, God-murther, or God-killing.
1678 T. Gale Court of Gentiles: Pt. IV iii. 65 Christ's crucifixion..was a sin..containing..God-killing bloud-guiltinesse.
1864 R. F. Burton Mission to Gelele I. 95 Thus there is a baptême de feu as well as a baptême d'eau; fire and water, to say nothing of the gauntlet, must combine to efface the god-killing crime.
1877 Trans. & Proc. N.Z. Inst. 1876 9 23 The literal sense of ‘ta atua’ being, god-striking or god-killing.
2010 S. Mebus Sorcerer's Secret xiii ‘Maybe I'll just take care of you!’ Kid Dropper cried, pulling out his god-killing knife and launching himself at Tweed.
God-making n.
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1546 J. Bale First Examinacyon A. Askewe f. 36v We must now beleue in the bawdrye of prestes, or that their Sodometrye and Whoredome for want of marryage, can be no impediment to their Godmakynge.
1613 S. Purchas Pilgrimage 652 Art..in this matter of God-making, commonly gets the upper hand.
1906 Westm. Gaz. 27 Nov. 2/1 Then the pupils are painted in, and the process of god-making, or deification, is complete.
2007 L. Saintcrow Devil's Right Hand (end matter) It is the simplest and most basic form of godmaking, hardwired into the human neural net.
God-mocking adj.
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1614 W. Raleigh Hist. World i. ii. vi. 328 A God-mocking equiuocation.
1899 Flaming Sword 9 June 8/2 Why, I think he would kick the whole hypocritical congregation into the street, blow the God mocking building at the moon, and then turn on the fireworks.
2010 Hamilton (Ont.) Spectator (Nexis) 17 June a11 What followed [Richard Dawkins's book The God Delusion] was a spate of god-mocking volumes.
God-opposing adj.
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1643 J. Owen Θεομαχία Ἀυτεξουσιαστικη iv. 24 Their proud God-opposing errors.
1860 E. B. Pusey Minor Prophets 306 Amaziah and the God-opposing party.
2011 P. Copan Is God a Moral Monster? xiii. 146 The negative, sometimes God-opposing association bound up with the Old Testament use of the term foreigner.
God-resembling adj.
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1612 M. Drayton Poly-olbion v. 76 Her god-resembling sonne [Achilles].
1802 C. Lamb John Woodvil ii. 49 All things that live, From the crook'd worm to man's imperial form, And God-resembling likeness.
1984 L. Dupré in G. P. Schner Ignatian Spirituality in Secular Age 18 The spiritual soul does not look for ‘God-resembling’ creatures. It embraces all beings with equal fervour: the high and the lowly, the good and the bad.
God-seeing adj. [originally (in quot. 1837) reflecting a false etymology of the personal name Israel (see Israel n.), which associates the name with Hebrew 'īš man, rā'āh to see, and ēl God (see bethel n.)]
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1837 R. Carlile Abstr. of Lect. to prove that Bible is Mythological Volume 12 The word Israel, signifies a sight of God, and, as a name applied to man, signifies a God-seeing man, or a student in physical science.
1876 A. Ransom tr. T. Keim Hist. Jesus of Nazara (ed. 2) I. 284 The priest and God-seeing prophet.
1892 J. Hutchison Our Lord's Signs i. 25 A believing God-seeing heart.
2001 W. M. Thackston tr. in Album Pref. & Other Documents 5/2 His God-seeing eye has opened the gates of paradise to his community through intercession.
c. Instrumental, locative, etc. (chiefly with past participles). See also godforsaken adj.
God-appointed adj.
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a1732 T. Boston Illustr. Doctr. Christian Relig. (1796) III. 76 Immodest apparel..God appointed apparel.
1832 W. Godwin Orphans of Unwalden (1835) xv. 150 This God-appointed sense of hearing.
1929 W. B. Yeats Winding Stair 11 And God-appointed Berkeley that proved all things a dream.
2005 Cincinnati Apr. 130/3 Pupils may be prepared to take their God-appointed places in the home, the church, the state, and their vocations or professions.
God-assigned adj.
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1842 E. A. Poe in Graham's Mag. Mar. 187/1 His greatness has its office God-assigned.
1894 C. L. Johnstone Canada 56 Carrying on the God-assigned task of conquering the earth.
2004 M. E. Snodgrass Encycl. Kitchen Hist. (2005) 231 Some clergymen, who believed kitchen work the god-assigned task of females.
God-begot adj. Obsolete
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1845 P. J. Bailey Festus (ed. 2) 4 All souls, impregned with spirit, God-begot!
1887 W. Morris tr. Homer Odyssey I. ii. 30 Odysseus, the God-begot.
1908 W. A. Gardner tr. Euripides Ion in In Greece with Classics i. 5 Never have I learned..That happiness to mortal's lot Hath been vouchsafed through offspring god-begot.
God-begotten adj.
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1600 M. Drayton Englands Heroicall Epist. (rev. ed.) f. 43 That horse of fame, that God-begotten steed.
1932 T. E. Lawrence tr. Homer Odyssey (new ed.) i. 2 This wave-beset, wooded island is the domain of a God-begotten creature.
2000 D. A. Miller Epic Hero ii. 100 A complete difference between hero and birth mate appears when the god-begotten child is born with a human-begotten ‘twin’.
God-beloved adj.
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1610 R. Davies Chesters Triumph sig. B3 I am ariu'd (in happy time I hope) To finde this happy God-beloued Man.
1853 J. Stevenson tr. Bede Life St. Cuthbert in tr. Bede Hist. Wks 577 That..the sanctity of the God-beloved father [L. Deo dilecti patris] might be manifested to the faithful.
2012 Canwest News Service (Nexis) 7 June Your thriving garden of God-beloved dandelion flowers.
God-built adj.
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?1611 G. Chapman tr. Homer Iliads viii. 114 Our god-built towres they see [Gk. θεοδμήτων ἐπὶ πύργων].
1718 A. Pope tr. Homer Iliad IV. xiii. 1029 Your boasted City and your god-built Wall.
1736 J. Thomson Britain: 4th Pt. Liberty 297 The seeming God-built City.
2005 B. Kay in J. Ashley et al. Relevant Church i. 3 A God-built structure made up of other believers.
God-centred adj.
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1831 Fraser's Mag. Oct. 379 It led the year of the self-balanced mass, God-centred in the abyss, and girt with heaven.
1908 Westm. Gaz. 10 Dec. 2/3 Flowers of heaven!..wreathing The God-centred vision of all coming years!
1956 C. S. Lewis Let. (1966) 269 The test of music or religion..is always the same—do they make one..more God-centred..and less self-centred?
2007 New Yorker 3 Dec. 55/3 Their teaching, these critics say, is ‘me-centered’, rather than God-centered.
God-created adj.
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1832 T. Carlyle in Edinb. Rev. July 339 The man is provided..with a rational god-created soul.
1841 E. Miall in Nonconf. 1 97 An image..not God-created, but made by the hands of man.
1947 Life 14 July 13/2 The search into the God-created laws of nature and into the revealed truths of human character.
2009 Cambr. Evening News (Nexis) 25 Dec. Fear imprisons and distorts the God-created image in men and women.
God-descended adj.
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1656 A. Cowley Pindarique Odes 18 in Poems The great Acts of God-descended Kings.
1716 A. Pope tr. Homer Iliad II. vi. 236 The..God-descended Chief.
1862 H. Spencer First Princ. ii. ii. §48. 159 Presently others of the god-descended race were similarly saluted.
1934 G. W. Russell House of Titans 4 Tell me our story, god-descended king, For we have dwindled down, and from ourselves Have passed away, and have forgotten all.
2004 T. Hartmann Last Hours of Anc. Sunlight (rev. ed.) 173 Kamikaze pilots enthusiastically gave their lives for the god-descended emperor.
God-deserted adj.
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1820 London Mag. Apr. 408/2 That dreaded recess, containing the Hebrew mysteries..is disclosed..to the God-deserted multitude!
1845 J. G. Whittier in Amer. Liberty Almanac 1846 26 And the solemn priest to Moloch, on each God-deserted shrine.
1900 Baptist Missionary Mag. July 307 These two villages amply repay all the money that has been spent in this apparently God-deserted country.
2007 Independent Extra (Nexis) 29 June Spanning New York and the Kremlin, Salt Lake City and a God-deserted heaven.
God-driven adj.
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1832 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. Feb. 150/1 His god-driven flight thrice round the towers of the city.
1895 W. M. Ramsay St. Paul x. ii. 216 The usual type of God-driven devotees.
2012 Daily News (Bowling Green, Kentucky) (Nexis) 20 Sept. This is a God-driven program... It's bigger and more important than any one person.
God-empowered adj.
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1834 J. A. Stephenson Sword Unsheathed 25 The outward call alone, duly given, constitutes the man a God-empowered minister.
1906 N.Y. Observer 18 Oct. 507/2 A god-kindled and God-empowered soul can be trusted to take care of duty.
2012 Intelligencer Jrnl. (Lancaster, Pa.) (Nexis) 22 Sept. b5 The dynamic, transformational, God-empowered change the Bible describes should be happening in the church.
God-enamoured adj.
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a1711 T. Ken Wks. (1721) I. 129 Food to ev'ry God-enamour'd Mind.
1895 Jewish Q. Rev. 7 766 They yearned not for mortal progeny, but for the immortal which the god-enamoured soul is alone able to bring forth of itself.
1993 K. E. Børreson Women's Stud. of Christian & Islamic Trad. i. 81 After this procession of God-enamoured women, it is stimulating to consider the happily married Christine de Pizan.
God-enlightened adj.
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1839 G. Field Outl. Analogical Philos. II. iv. 346 The purely rational, or God-enlightened and perfectly cultivated mind.
1860 E. B. Pusey Minor Prophets 562 Let the God-enlightened soul go on [etc.].
1920 Homiletic Rev. 80 460 This much-talked-of infallible judgment of a God-enlightened, educated public.
1994 Buffalo (N.Y.) News (Nexis) 22 Nov. 2 Who knows what the presence of one God-enlightened person can produce?
God-entrusted adj.
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1852 T. Wilson in Tracts for Times No. 3. 16 The student who..sedulously napkins the God-entrusted talent by which he discerns between good and evil, light and darkness?
1864 E. B. Pusey Daniel ii. 61 Human power..has a majesty, lent it by God, even when it abuses the God-entrusted gift.
1904 Rec. Christian Work Sept. 739/1 One endowed with great faculties digs a hole in the earth, and buries the God-entrusted talent.
2010 L. Bevere Lioness Arising ix. 159 The God-entrusted message—God the Father is love, and his only begotten Son, Jesus, died to reconcile us.
God-fed adj. [after ancient Greek διοτρεϕής (see Diotrephes n.)]
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1675 T. Hobbes tr. Homer Odysses iii. 34 Choisest meat, Which none but God-fed Kings [Gk. διοτρεϕέες βασιλῆες] eat.
1890 J. R. Lowell Writings 151 This have I mused on, since mine eye could first Among the stars distinguish and with joy Rest on that God-fed Pharos of the north.
2010 High Point Enterprise (N. Carolina) (Nexis) 23 May I know that BOTSO [= Brothers Organized to Save Others] is God-led and God-fed.
God-forbidden adj.
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1643 J. Milton Doctr. Divorce 6 If the woman be naturally so of disposition, as will not help to remove..that same God-forbidd'n lonelines which [etc.].
1867 R. Broughton Not wisely, but too Well II. viii. 140 The angel with the drawn sword impeding the progress of his God-forbidden journey.
2011 Tampa (Florida) Tribune (Nexis) 9 Aug. 10 Let's pull up our stakes and get the hell out of this God-forbidden land that time has forgotten.
God-forgotten adj. [compare German gottvergessen (19th cent.; earlier in sense ‘having forgotten God’ (17th cent.)); compare earlier godforsaken adj.]
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1845 P. Jones My Uncle Hobson & I xii. 123 ‘Woe, woe, woe!’ shouted he, ‘to the God-forgotten inhabitants of this God-forsaken earth!’
1889 R. Buchanan Heir of Linne vi ‘A God-forgotten place’, he said at last, as the dog-cart stopped.
1999 Times 25 Jan. 20 (headline) ‘This is a God-forgotten place’, Russians are fond of saying.
God-formed adj.
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1854 J. A. Allen Day-dreams Butterfly iii. 73 In the God-formed plan Doth no rainbow span The broad ocean which separates time From eternity.
1888 A. J. Butler tr. Dante Paradiso ii. 17 The God-formed realm.
2006 Ottawa Citizen (Nexis) 24 Dec. a14 Bela his name was—four months old—this little God-formed shape.
God-gifted adj.
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1810 C. Lucas Joseph x. 252 Thee, whose firm look, God-gifted, closed the Lions' mouths.
1863 Ld. Tennyson Milton in Cornhill Mag. Dec. 707 God-gifted organ-voice of England.
1907 ‘D. Donovan’ Gold-spinner i. 1God-gifted and beautiful’ was Helga Arnold!
2003 Eastern Eye 14 Feb. 34/3 (advt.) I have a God-gifted ability to solve all your problems.
God-governed adj.
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1709 Ld. Shaftesbury Moralists ii. 150 In this case it is not a Self-govern'd, but a God-govern'd machine.
1896 A. Brown Mercy Warren vi. 138 This was the new scene, the God-given and God-governed theatre of action.
2003 C. Wilson in J. Miller & B. Inwood Hellenistic & Early Mod. Philos. 106 Moral abominations inappropriate to a God-governed universe.
God-hated adj.
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1643 J. Vicars Looking-glasse for Malignants 34 These notable Convictions and Confessions of the horrible and God-hated evill of your cause and cases.
a1868 A. I. Menken Infelicia (1883) 95 Turn back, ye Assassins! or wear on your foreheads For ever the brand of a God-hated race!
1927 W. B. Yeats October Blast 22 These God-hated children.
1998 J. V. A. Fine in A. Dundes Vampire 61 The leaders of the God-hated affair..were to receive forty strokes.
God-implanted adj.
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1837 U.S. Mag. & Democratic Rev. Oct. 9 The high destinies of which every human soul contains the God-implanted germ.
1860 E. B. Pusey Minor Prophets 287 The natural God-implanted feeling is the germ of the spiritual.
1923 Pop. Mech. Mar. 359 Thoughtless, though well-meaning parents stifled and killed the natural inclination and individuality of promising, budding ambition, God-implanted.
1989 Hist. Today Feb. 56/3 The God-implanted rights of both property and benevolence.
God-inflicted adj.
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1865 J. S. Mill Auguste Comte 30 Hippocrates..could say with impunity, speaking of what were called the god-inflicted diseases, that to his mind they were neither more nor less god-inflicted than all others.
1936 L. MacNeice tr. Aeschylus Agamemnon 52 From whence these rushing and God-inflicted Profitless pains?
2005 Toronto Star (Nexis) 20 Oct. A convicted murderer..says it's the church that should be forced to compensate him for the God-inflicted damage wrought by His alleged crimes.
God-inspired adj.
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1622 M. Drayton 2nd Pt. Poly-olbion xxiv. 86 That God inspired man, with heauenly goodnesse fild.
1845 P. J. Bailey Festus (ed. 2) 271 God-inspired To utter truth.
1991 H. Gold Best Nightmare on Earth iv. 58 These ritual vévés, god-inspired flour drawings in the temple.
God-intoxicated adj. [after German gotttrunken (a1801 in the passage translated in quot. 1829)]
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1829 T. Carlyle tr. ‘Novalis’ in Foreign Rev. 4 130 Spinoza is a God-intoxicated-man (Gott-trunkener Mensch).
1839 H. W. Longfellow Hyperion I. ii. vi. 61 He is what the Transcendentalists call a god-intoxicated man.
1955 Life 31 Jan. 96/2 The Hindus have been called a ‘God-intoxicated’ people who see God in man and beast, stick and stone, fire and water.
2003 Vanity Fair Aug. 76 The god-inflamed and god-intoxicated enemies of the Republic.
God-loved adj.
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1839 T. Wade Prothanasia 65 Her cheeks blush'd at the color that bedevill'd Their god-loved paleness.
1870 W. Morris Earthly Paradise: Pt. IV 246 Grief must he hide..If he would be god-loved and conquering still.
1996 J. L. Nelson Frankish World p. xxi The place to celebrate the God-loved Franks.
God-made adj.
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1597 M. Drayton Englands Heroicall Epist. f. 40v Nor doe I boast my God-made Grandsires skarres.
1856 J. Ruskin Mod. Painters III. 147 Greatness in art..is..the expression of the mind of a God-made great man.
1994 C. McCarthy Crossing 426 After a while the right and godmade sun did rise, once again, for all and without distinction.
God-opposed adj. [after ancient Greek ἀντίθεος (see etymology at anti- prefix)]
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?1614 G. Chapman tr. Homer Odysses xi. 169 Life yet made short their admirations; who God-opposed Otus [Gk. Ὠτόν τ' ἀντίθεον] had to name.
1860 E. B. Pusey Minor Prophets 336 The God-opposed world.
2010 T. W. Balderston Proven God 40 God-opposed groups are fighting..to keep God and the Bible..out of any public place.
God-ordained adj.
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1823 Bristol Mercury 29 Dec. A power de facto is a power God-ordained.
1897 Daily Picayune (New Orleans) 31 Aug. 3/6 Women are the God-ordained instructors of youth.
2006 Christianity Today Sept. 106/1 The..Protestant Three Self Movement sent out pastors..to preach that unquestioning loyalty to the government..was God-ordained.
God-sent adj.
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1585 Parish Reg. St. Nicolas, Durham Margaret god sent daughter of Margaret Tayler [christened] Jun: 27.
1655 E. Gayton Upon Meeting of Sons of Clergy 4 Are God-sent Prophets Triumphs or Reproaches.
1884 ‘Rita’ Vivienne vi. i One of those God-sent chances which sometimes befriend us in our hours of peril.
1972 Recusant Hist. Jan. 187 Converts remained godsent in more senses than one.
2000 A. Rashid Taliban (2001) 58 For the Taliban it was a God-sent opportunity.
God-sped adj.
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1838 S. Bellamy Betrayal 61 Nor longer tarrieth, God-sped, and fain His course to finish.
1886 J. Ruskin Time & Tide 20 The wisely sharp methods of Godsped courage.
2011 Washington Post (Nexis) 17 Nov. d1 His supporters say he is streaking toward a God-sped destiny.
God-speeded adj.
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1871 R. Ellis tr. Catullus Poems lxii. 30 When shone an happier hour than thy god-speeded arriving [L. quid datur a diuis felici optatius hora?]?
1911 W. L. Reed Jumbles (Re-jumbled) 62 The gleam of a God-speeded sunbeam Shining out 'neath a brow worldly-wise.
2007 I. McDonald Brasyl 270 Godspeeded, I traversed a million worlds until an echo brought me up.
God-taught adj.
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1670 R. Cudworth Serm. 1 John ii. 3–4 in Disc. concerning Lord's Supper (ed. 2) 108 He is a true Christian indeed..that is God-taught.
1891 F. Hartmann (title) The life and doctrines of Jacob Boehme: the God-taught philosopher.
2006 J. J. Packer & C. Nystrom Praying 38 The authentic path of prayer expresses a God-taught commitment to a way of life.
God-vouched adj. Obsolete
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1839 P. J. Bailey Festus 123 His God-vouched inheritance of Heaven.
a1904 W. P. Yeaman in J. C. Maple Life & Writings W. P. Yeaman (1906) IV. iii. 384 The civilized world is indebted to Baptists for the revolution that has been wrought in the interests of the natural and God-vouched rights of conscience.
God-wrought adj.
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1817 R. C. Sands Bridal of Vaumond viii. 97 While God-wrought chains his soul corrode.
1870 W. Morris Earthly Paradise: Pt. IV 24 Some god-wrought eagle-wings.
1998 L. Ryken et al. Dict. Biblical Imagery 756/1 Salvation refers to the God-wrought reversal of the sinner's denial of the Creator and the created order.
d. Limitative.
God-unlike adj. [after godlike adj.] Obsolete
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1609 J. Davies Holy Roode sig. F3v Wilt be so God vnlike, to see thy God Embrace the Whip, and thou abhorre the Rod?
e.
God-bless v. [ < God bless (in God bless you! at bless v.1 9b)] rare transitive to say ‘God bless (you)’ to; also intransitive.
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1841 C. Dickens Barnaby Rudge xl. 165 To be..God-blessed..by one who carried ‘Sir’ before his name..was something for a porter.
1870 M. Arnold in Pall Mall Gaz. 29 Nov. 3/2 We heard the honest German soldiers Hoch-ing, hurrahing, and God-blessing in their true-hearted but somewhat rococo manner.
2003 Z. Packer Drinking Coffee Elsewhere 225 Hugging and God-blessing everyone in sight.
God bless int. [shortened < God bless you! at bless v.1 9b] used as a wish for God's blessing on a person or as an expression of goodwill, esp. at parting.
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the world > action or operation > advantage > [phrase] > for the sake of > wish for the benefit of (someone) > wish for someone's benefit
God bless1945
1945 M. Lowry Let. Dec. in Sursum Corda! (1995) I. 496 Give Mother our best love & tell her we are writing her together today. Adios, God bless, Your brother, Malcolm.
1964 ‘J. Roffman’ Likely to Die vi. 69 ‘That would mean that I'd arrive here soon after half-past five.’ She smiled. ‘That will be fine. God bless, Albert.’
1966 ‘E. Peters’ Piper on Mountain i. 20 Now good night, and God bless! Don't stay up too late!
1967 ‘M. Hunter’ Cambridgeshire Disaster xvi. 109 Try and forget me, David, God bless.
1999 G. Kissick Winter in Volcano (2000) i. 4 ‘Yes. I understand. Thank you, Sister. Goodbye.’ ‘Thank you, sir. Goodbye and God Bless.’
God-born adj. (also with lower-case initial) chiefly poetic and literary (a) (with reference to Greek or Roman mythology) born of a god or gods; of divine parentage or ancestry; (also with reference to Christ) born of God; (b) (of a thought, feeling, etc.) given by or proceeding from God (cf. God-given adj., God-sent adj. at Compounds 1c).
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1640 J. Gower tr. Ovid Festivalls i. 16 That god-born prince [L. nepos natusque dei] (although himself denie) His fathers weight shall manage piously.
1755 W. Dodd tr. Theocritus Encomium of Ptolemy in tr. Callimachus Hymns 198 Hail royal Ptolemy! equal to the race Of god-born heroes [Gk. ἡμιθέων], thee the Muse extols.
1823 Ld. Byron Don Juan: Canto XIII lxi. 85 The Virgin Mother of the God-born child, With her son in her blessed arms, look'd round.
1843 Dial Apr. 422 The God-born idea is not an impulsion, but an inspiration.
1910 Outlook 24 Dec. 950 His baby hand shall give to earth All of a God-born Saviour's care.
1988 W. M. Wright & J. F. Power in P. M. Thibert tr. F. de Sales & J. de Chantal Lett. Spiritual Direction 14 The director then helped that person to learn to identify those promptings, to..propose possible practices that might encourage the free expression of those God-born impulses.
2000 Times Lit. Suppl. 10 Nov. 22/3 In Greek theatre, Heracles was a..Geryon-bodied figure, with distinct genre characterizations for his appearances in tragedy (god-born culture-hero grappling with the limits of mortality) [etc.].
god-bote n. Anglo-Saxon Law Obsolete (historical in later use) a fine payable to the Church in reparation for an injury or offence; cf. boot n.1 9.
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OE Laws of Æðelred II (Claud.) vi. li. 258 Gif for godbotan feohbot ariseð.., þæt gebyreð rihtlice, be biscpa dihte, to gebedbigene & to þearfena hyþþe.
1661 T. Blount Glossographia (ed. 2) God-bote (Sax.), a Fine or amerciament for crimes and offences against God; also an Ecclesiastical or Church fine. [Also in later dictionaries.]
God-botherer n. depreciative (chiefly British, originally Military slang) a member of the clergy; any religious-minded person, esp. a proselytizing Christian.
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1937 E. Partridge Dict. Slang 338/2 God-botherer, a parson: Royal Air Force's: from ca. 1920.
1939 R. D. Q. Henriques No Arms, No Armour xiv. 395 He had been pretty close to becoming a God-botherer, a religious sort of bloke who made hell for everyone by insisting on a full attendance at Church parade.
1966 Times 22 Jan. 9/6 Missionaries, known locally to the unconverted as ‘devil-dodgers’ and ‘God-botherers’.
1966 K. Amis Anti-Death League (1967) ii. 147 ‘What do you think of the padre, Max?’..‘Not a bad chap for a God-botherer.’
2008 S. Armitage Gig (2009) 201 He wasn't..the first bluesman, pot-head, speed-freak or born-again God-botherer.
God-bothering n. and adj. depreciative (chiefly British, originally Military slang) (a) n. religious activity; the actions or behaviour of a God-botherer; (b) adj. religious; proselytizing; designating or characteristic of a God-botherer.
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1943 Gen. 30 Jan. 47/1 A church service held on board one of His Majesty's Ships is usually known as godbothering.
1968 Guardian 30 Apr. 6/1 Yes, the femme fatale, already saddled with lover and husband, fatally attracts the God-bothering young excise man.
1988 Observer 1 May 11/7 That fiendish old God-bothering father of hers, Alderman Whatsisname.
2009 R. C. Wood Preaching & Professing 125 To such humanists, all of our God-bothering is a foolish extravagance.
2010 Canberra Times (Nexis) 24 Oct. The blokes, down on their luck, were sometimes mildly disparaging of the Salvos [i.e. the Salvation Army], with their odd military-style hierarchy and ‘God-bothering’ ways.
God-box n. a thing or person imagined as containing God or a god; (formerly also depreciative) (probably) †a pyx; (slang) a church or other place of worship; (also) a church organ.
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society > faith > artefacts > sanctuary or holy place > [noun]
holinessc897
houseeOE
halidomc1000
ZionOE
God's houseOE
wike-tuna1250
saintuairea1300
sanctuarya1340
holy1382
entry?c1400
the Holy (Saint) Sepulchre (occasionally the Sepulchre)c1400
high placea1425
place of worship?1459
synagogue1490
God-box?1548
shrinea1577
bethela1617
prayer house1657
barn1689
bidental1692
altar1772
praying housea1843
?1548 J. Bale Image Bothe Churches (new ed.) iii. sig. Bb.viii The vessels of yuory comprehendeth al theyr maundy dishes, their offering platters their relique chystes, their god boxes, their drinking horns.
1874 S. J. MacKenna At School with Old Dragoon 235 He..bids the men squat down, and opens his god-box as the former shudderingly regard it.
1890 Freethinker 14 Sept. 440/1 R. B. Cunningham Grahame, M.P...speaks of chapel as ‘some dissenting god-box’.
1892 W. W. Gill S. Pacific & New Guinea 20 The priest, or ‘god-box’,..went through the needful prayers.
1923 C. K. Ogden & I. A. Richards Meaning of Meaning ii. 37 The priests in whom gods were supposed to dwell (a belief which induced the Cantonese to apply the term ‘god-boxes’ to such favoured personages)—are amongst the victims of this logophobia.
1928 J. Galsworthy Swan Song iii. xii. 305 This great box—God-box the Americans would call it—had been made centuries before the world became industrialised.
1937 Amer. Speech 12 181/12 Godbox, organ.
1962 New Statesman 25 May 768/2 A ring-a-ding God-box that will go over big with the flat-bottomed latitudinarians.
1995 Faith Today Mar. 28/2 Through the Toronto Blessing our ‘God boxes’ have been stretched—smashed, if the truth be told.
1998 R. Stone Damascus Gate ii. xxix. 227 ‘So the tourist goes up into the choir loft to see who's at the keyboard, and who do you think he sees?’ ‘Fats Waller?’ ‘Hell,’ Lucas said. ‘You knew... So Fats says, “Just trying their God box, man”.’
God forbid n. [rhyming slang < God forbid : see forbid v. 2b] slang a kid, a child; see also quot. 1960; cf. Gawd-forbid n. at Gawd n. Derivatives.
ΘΚΠ
the world > people > person > child > [noun]
wenchelc890
childeOE
littleOE
littlingOE
hired-childc1275
smalla1300
brolla1325
innocentc1325
chickc1330
congeonc1330
impc1380
faunt1382
young onec1384
scionc1390
weea1400
birdc1405
chickenc1440
enfaunta1475
small boyc1475
whelp1483
burden1490
little one1509
brat?a1513
younkerkin1528
kitling1541
urchin1556
loneling1579
breed1586
budling1587
pledge?1587
ragazzo1591
simplicity1592
bantling1593
tadpole1594
two-year-old1594
bratcheta1600
lambkin1600
younker1601
dandling1611
buda1616
eyas-musketa1616
dovelinga1618
whelplinga1618
puppet1623
butter printa1625
chit1625
piggy1625
ninnyc1626
youngster1633
fairya1635
lap-child1655
chitterling1675
squeaker1676
cherub1680
kid1690
wean1692
kinchin1699
getlingc1700
totum17..
charity-child1723
small girl1734
poult1739
elfin1748
piggy-wiggy1766
piccaninny1774
suck-thumb18..
teeny1802
olive1803
sprout1813
stumpie1820
sexennarian1821
totty1822
toddle1825
toddles1828
poppet1830
brancher1833
toad1836
toddler1837
ankle-biter1840
yarkera1842
twopenny1844
weeny1844
tottykins1849
toddlekins1852
brattock1858
nipper1859
sprat1860
ninepins1862
angelet1868
tenas man1870
tad1877
tacker1885
chavvy1886
joey1887
toddleskin1890
thumb-sucker1891
littlie1893
peewee1894
tyke1894
che-ild1896
kiddo1896
mother's bairn1896
childling1903
kipper1905
pick1905
small1907
God forbid1909
preadolescent1909
subadolescent1914
toto1914
snookums1919
tweenie1919
problem child1920
squirt1924
trottie1924
tiddler1927
subteen1929
perisher1935
poopsie1937
pre-schooler1937
pre-teen1938
pre-teener1940
juvie1941
sprog1944
pikkie1945
subteenager1947
pre-teenager1948
pint-size1954
saucepan lid1960
rug rat1964
smallie1984
bosom-child-
1909 J. R. Ware Passing Eng. Victorian Era 144/2 God-forbids, kids—a cynical mode of describing children by poor men who dread a long family.
1960 J. Franklyn Dict. Rhyming Slang 70/1 God forbid(s), (1) Kids (child or children), (2) Yids (Jews), (3) lid (hat).
1974 P. Wright Lang. Brit. Industry x. 89 You'll draw plenty of bees an' honey (money) if you have, say, five God forbids (kids).
1999 C. Breese Hutch (2001) xiv. 288 Hutch's old friends Harold and Leslie Berens agreed that he had been ‘into the god-forbids’, apt cockney rhyming slang for ‘kids’.
god-home n. Obsolete the home of God or the gods; heaven, Asgard. [With reference to Scandinavian mythology (compare quot. 1876) after Old Icelandic goðheimr.]
ΘΚΠ
the world > the supernatural > deity > heaven > [noun]
bliss971
heavenOE
paradiseOE
towera1240
seatc1275
heavenwarda1300
Abraham's bosomc1300
tabernaclea1340
wonea1350
sanctuary1382
pasturec1384
firmament1388
sky?1518
Canaan1548
welkin1559
happy land1562
sphere?1592
heavenwards1614
afterworld1615
patria1707
god-home1848
overworld1858
the invisible1868
the world > the supernatural > deity > other deities > [noun] > northern > abode of
god-home1848
1848 P. J. Bailey Festus (ed. 3) 120 God-home and glory-land.
1876 W. Morris Story of Sigurd iii. 216 A burg of people builded for the lords of God-home [Old Icelandic Goðheimr] meet.
1919 W. N. Guthrie Relig. Old Glory ii. iv. 129 The hosts of angels pursuing the demon of the storms do pass in triumph by the bridge from manhome to Godhome.
god-one n. rare a person who is God or a god.
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1843 E. B. Barrett Seraph & Poet in Graham's Mag. July 72/1 The seraph sings before the manifest God-one.
1918 E. Pound Poetry Feb. 270 His series of ‘prayers’—to the God-one, the god-couple, the god-house, the god-street, and so on—is extremely interesting.
1962 A. Norton Lord of Thunder i. 15 The reputed home of these God Ones was the high mountains of the northeast.
God-saving adj. Obsolete rare of or relating to the greeting ‘God save you’; salutatory.
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1598 J. Marston Scourge of Villanie iii. x. sig. H4v This bumbast foile-button..after the God-sauing ceremonie, For want of talke-stuffe, falls to foinerie.
God-shaped adj. (a) shaped or formed by God (obsolete rare); (b) designating a void in a non-believer's heart that is likened to the shape of God; (hence) designating a feeling of emptiness said to be experienced by a person who does not believe in God, (now) esp. in god-shaped hole.
ΚΠ
1840 P. J. Bailey in Monthly Mag. Apr. 397 Dreams are mind-clouds, high and unshapen beauties, Or but God-shaped, like mountains, which contain Much and rich matter.
1897 Rep. Board Agric. 1894–6 (State of New Hampsh.) 396 All have known..trees greatly damaged by a pruning which reminds one of butchery, and which in a lover of the beautiful God-shaped trees required a large amount of Christianity to prevent expressions unbecoming a gentleman.
1917 H. G. Wells God Invisible King iv. 84 The religion of the atheist with a God-shaped blank at its heart and the persuasion of the unconverted theologian, are both like lamps unlit.
1930 J. F. Newton Things I know in Relig. 22 Not only is God implied in our very thought, He is affirmed in our denials, and without Him we are left with a God-shaped void in our hearts.
1954 R. Macaulay Let. 31 Jan. in Last Lett. to Friend (1962) 143 Always one felt in one's soul what someone has called ‘the God-shaped hole’, where God has once been, or will be, or (anyhow) ought to be.
2010 Walla Walla (Washington) Union-Bull. 21 Mar. c3/5 Some people say there is a God-shaped hole in us that only God can fill.
god shelf n. [after Japanese kamidana (see kamidana n.)] in a traditional Japanese household, a high wooden shelf serving as an altar for the worship of kami (Shinto gods), on which are typically placed a miniature Shinto shrine, paper amulets or charms, and offerings of food and drink; this shelf and its contents considered together.
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society > faith > artefacts > implement (general) > vessel (general) > shrine > [noun] > Shinto
miya1727
kamidana1873
god shelf1876
1874 E. Satow in Trans. Asiatic Soc. Japan 2 114 In every Japanese house there is kept what is called a kami-dana, or ‘shelf for gods’.]
1876 F. V. Dickins in tr. Chiushingura 171 (note) One of these O-harai ought to find a place upon every domestic Kami-dana, or god-shelf—a small model of a Shinto temple to be found in almost every house, labelled with the names of various deities.
1880 I. L. Bird Unbeaten Tracks Japan II. 359 In nearly all Japanese houses there is a kami-dana or god-shelf, on which is a miniature temple in wood.
1905 D. B. W. Sladen Playing the Game xii They are never too poor to have a little light burning on the god-shelf.
1997 J. Bowker World Relig. 105/3 (caption) They are usually placed on a Buddhist altar, or butsudan, or on the ‘god shelf’, or kamidana, at home, to protect and bring good fortune to the family.
God slot n. [compare slot n.2 6] a period in a broadcasting schedule regularly reserved for religious programmes.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > broadcasting > a broadcast programme or item > [noun] > types of
news bulletin1857
news summary1875
police message1886
newsflash1904
headline1908
play-by-play1909
feature1913
spot ad1916
magazine1921
news1923
time signal1923
outside broadcast1924
radiocast1924
amateur hour1925
bulletin1925
serial1926
commentary1927
rebroadcast1927
school broadcast1927
feature programme1928
trailer1928
hour1930
schools broadcast1930
show1930
spot advertisement1930
spot announcement1930
sustaining1931
flash1934
newscast1934
commercial1935
clambake1937
remote1937
repeat1937
snap1937
soap opera1939
sportcast1939
spot commercial1939
daytimer1940
magazine programme1941
season1942
soap1943
soaper1946
parade1947
public service announcement1948
simulcasting1949
breakfast-time television1952
call-in1952
talkathon1952
game show1953
kidvid1955
roundup1958
telenovela1961
opt-out1962
miniseries1963
simulcast1964
soapie1964
party political1966
novela1968
phone-in1968
sudser1968
schools programme1971
talk-in1971
God slot1972
roadshow1973
trail1973
drama-doc1977
informercial1980
infotainment1980
infomercial1981
kideo1983
talk-back1984
indie1988
omnibus1988
teleserye2000
kidult-
1972 Fortnight 13 Apr. 23/3 Vastly more enjoyable, though no God-slot for Easter Sunday, was to see tiddly-winks champion Nimmo in Las Vegas.
1972 Times 12 Oct. 17/6 Of course there is a balance on TV. Peter Hain and Jimmy Reid get their chance on the God slot on Sunday, or Late Night Line-up when everybody is in bed.
1985 Sunday Tel. 17 Feb. 3/2 This latest move..could lead to the disappearance of the ‘God slot’, the so-called ‘closed period’ for religious programmes on television.
2010 Church Times 10 Sept. 28/2 The psychologist Nicholas Humphrey had an angry response published to Mary Medgley's ‘Faith and Reason’ godslot.
God squad n. slang (originally U.S. University slang) (the members of) a religious organization, esp. an evangelical Christian group; those representing religious interests.
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > sect > Christianity > person > [noun] > fervent
God squad1962
society > faith > worship > preaching > evangelization > [noun] > one who evangelizes > collectively
God squad1962
1962 Jrnl. Educ. Sociol. 35 206 The Christian Student Movement..had been..an esoteric little group, meeting in piety, and contemplating the navel. They were referred to as the ‘God Squad’ on the campus.
1969 Current Slang (Univ. S. Dakota) 3 57 God squad, Crusade for Christ on Campus.—University of Kentucky. The God Squad will not meet tonight.
1977 Time 26 Dec. 42/3 Cleaver was later converted by a prison ‘God squad’.
1983 Observer 29 May 3/5 BBC executives..said: ‘Beware the unexpected—and keep tabs on the God squad.’
2002 Independent on Sunday 20 Oct. (Review Suppl.) 31/2 (heading) The other week this God squad woman asked me about morals.
god-stick n. (a) = joss-stick n. at joss n.1 Compounds 2 (now rare); (b) (with reference to certain traditional cultures of Polynesia and East Asia, now esp. the Maori people of New Zealand) any of various types of carved wooden stick or peg used in religious rituals to represent a god, or in which a god is believed to dwell.Maori god-sticks are typically carved with a stylized representation of a face or head.
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the world > physical sensation > smell and odour > fragrance > [noun] > fragrant substance or perfume > incense
rechelseOE
storc1000
incensec1290
censea1382
guma1382
olibanuma1398
thus1398
frankincensea1400
frank14..
thurec1425
mascle thure?1440
olibanc1440
smoke1530
perfume1542
masculine frankincense1555
tacamahac1577
cayolac1588
masculine gum1604
candle1628
pastille1630
Spanish coal1631
incense-frank1633
thymiama1697
censery1823
punk1844
joss-stick1845
god-stick1874
society > faith > artefacts > consumables > incense > [noun] > cylinder of
joss-stick1845
god-stick1874
agarbatti1884
1874 Year-bk. Pharmacy 609 Perhaps it would be interesting to mention how the little joss or god sticks are manufactured.
1884 E. Greey Bear-worshippers of Yezo p. vii The bearded savage in the lower corner is an Aino whittling inaho (god-sticks).
1889 Woman's Work for Woman July 178/1 They are called joss-sticks, a name given by the Portuguese, doubtless meaning ‘dios’ or god-sticks.
1897 Pall Mall Gaz. 22 Sept. 2/1 Whenever a Siyot acted as mountain guide, or forded a river, he expressed his gratitude for safety by adding a quota [of little rags] to the ‘god-stick’.
1900 A. Hamilton Art Workmanship of Maori Race in N.Z. v. 416 These three wooden pegs show the form of the god-sticks without the sinnet wrappings.
1902 E. A. Gordon Temples of Orient i. 6 The use of Joss-sticks (i.e. god-sticks) in China; ‘Joss’ being the Chinese pronunciation of the Portuguese Deus.
1967 Cal. Art Inst. Chicago No. 4. 8/1 Although it was not easy to borrow carvings from Hawaii, some exceptional godsticks and figures have been gathered from various collections.
2002 D. Oliver Polynesia in Early Hist. Times iii. xxiv. 228/1 Some gods were capable of resting temporarily in certain natural objects.., or more commonly in carved stone figures and man-made ‘god-sticks’.
God-talk n. theological discourse; (also) conversation or discourse about one's faith or God in general.In later use often with negative connotations.
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1962 Jrnl. Relig. 42 260/2 In trying valiantly but vainly to make God-talk intelligible to people of an empirical temperament, Wilson has altered in a very radical way the very language game in which God-talk is at home.
1973 Times 21 July 14/4 No religion, Christian or other, can ever be fully understood from outside, and this must apply also to its God-talk.
1986 Toronto Star (Nexis) 5 Dec. (Sports section) b2 I had an irate call from a Star subscriber, protesting that this God talk has no place on the sports pages.
2010 C. E. Smidt et al. Disappearing God Gap? viii. 228 Did religious voters respond to the ‘God-talk’ and the religious outreach of the Democratic Party?
god tree n. any of several trees that are regarded as sacred or as a gift of a god, esp. the bo tree, Ficus religiosa, of South and South East Asia, and the deodar cedar; (also) a mythical tree regarded as a god. [Originally (with reference to the bo tree; compare quots. 1681 and 1778) after Sinhala bogaha tree of (the Buddha's) enlightenment (see bo tree n.), with a European misinterpretation of the Buddha as a god (perhaps reinforced by the use of Pali deva- ‘god-, divine’ as an honorific, e.g. for Buddhas ( < Sanskrit deva god: see deva n.)). In quot. 1833 after Sanskrit devadāru, lit. ‘timber of the gods’ (see deodar n.).]
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the world > the supernatural > deity > [noun] > specific thing as > tree as
god tree1681
tree-goddess1895
tree-god1905
tree-deity1911
the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > yielding fibre, thatching, or basket material > [noun] > trees or shrubs yielding fibre, etc. > silk-cotton trees
gossipine1589
gossampine1601
cotton tree1670
god tree1681
silk-cotton tree1712
kapok1735
semul1809
ceiba1810
wool-tree1831
bombax1834
munguba1863
cabbage wood1885
1681 R. Knox Hist. Relation Ceylon 18 This tree they call Bogahah; we the God-Tree.
1778 J. Abercrombie Universal Gardener & Botanist at Ficus Sacred Fig, or Indian God-tree..is held in great veneration in India.
1833 Penny Cycl. I. 34/1 Abies Deodara, the Sacred Indian Fir. The Hindoos call it the Devadara or God-tree.
1837 J. C. Loudon Gardener's Mag. Dec. 592 Even the untutored children of Africa are so struck with the majesty of its appearance, that they designate it [sc. Eriodendron anfractuosum] the God tree.
1896 F. B. Jevons Introd. Hist. Relig. xix. 252 A branch of the god-tree, some actual ears of wheat or maize, are worshipped as Very God.
1990 D. Carrasco Relig. Mesoamer. iv. 100 According to Tzutujil mythology there existed a god in the form of a tree... This god-tree became pregnant with potential life as the creation of the universe approached.
2008 R. C. Bisht Internat. Encycl. Himalayas v. 144 There are historical records that describe a God Tree in western Ngari, Tibet.
C2. Compounds with God's.The postmodifier of God has replaced, or is more commonly used than, the genitive in a number of expressions in which it was formerly usual, such as God's friend, God's lamb, God's mother, God's son, God's word, etc.: see the nouns.Also God's acre n., God's good n., God's house n., God's penny n.
a. Rhetorically placed before a noun, either to stress the special connection between God and the item denoted, or simply for emphasis.
God's Anointed n. see anointed n.
God's church n. [probably after post-classical Latin ecclesia Domini (3rd cent.)] the (Christian) Church, or a particular denomination of it; (also) the community of God's people.
ΚΠ
OE tr. Bede Eccl. Hist. (Corpus Oxf.) v. xvii. 456 Se cyning geleornade þæt he symble rihte regolas Godes cyricean [L. catholicas ecclesiae regulas] fyligde & lufade.
lOE Anglo-Saxon Chron. (Laud) anno 1093 On his broke he Gode fela behæsa behet: his agen lif on riht to lædene & Godes cyrcean griðian & friðian.
c1400 Last Age of Church (1840) 31 Þe synnes bi cause of whiche suche persecucioun schal be in Goddis Chirche.
c1449 R. Pecock Repressor (1860) 436 In the Oold Testament God ordeyned oon bischop to be aboue in reule..and so to alle the clergie in Goddis chirche being thanne.
1596 T. Bell Suruey Popery (title page) A succinct and profitable enarration of the state of Gods Church.
1623 G. Fletcher Reward of Faithfull ii. iv. 194 All which rocks of danger & ill husbandry religion..neuer suffers any that saile in Noahs Arke, I meane in Gods church for want of a right steering their vessels to run foule vpon.
1797 in A. Kilham Methodist Monitor I. 272 But as there are rulers, so there are rules for God's church.
1863 J. M. Cox Church on Rock vi. 127 From the first beginning of her history, the state of God's Church on earth has been ever one of conflict.
1937 Crisis Oct. 317/2 Segregation in God's church will continue in America and in South Africa.
2008 Third Way Oct. 23/1 My prayer, my hope for God's church is to be God's church, to be true to itself.
God's creatures n. animals, or humans and animals, considered collectively.
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1786 ‘A. Pasquin’ Royal Academicians 43 If they were not the most stupid assemblage of all God's creatures, they would instantly expel him.
1822 J. Hogg Three Perils of Man III. i. 36 I see nae right ony o' God's creatures hae to be hurlbarrowed out o' their standing.
1921 J. M. Whitham Heretic vi. 47 'Tidn't Christian to boil God's creatures if 'ee bain't a-going to eat en... Such ropery!
2003 X-Ray May 17/2 The utilisation of God's creatures to further the careers of fraudulent software package-sponsored, so-called electronic musicians must stop.
God's earth n. the earth; frequently in on God's (dear or green) earth.
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1583 T. Stocker tr. Tragicall Hist. Ciuile Warres Lowe Countries i. 138 b There were but 200 Spaniardes laid on Gods deare earth.
1595 G. Peele Old Wiues Tale sig. D4v The veriest vixen that liues vpon Gods earth.
1602 R. Carew Surv. Cornwall i. f. 74 Till..he be layd flat on Gods deare earth.
1748 S. Richardson Clarissa VI. xxx. 108 There was not a viler fellow upon God's earth, than me.
1844 Waukesha (Wisconsin Territory) Chronotype 15 June 1/4 Crucifixion..not for a big name on the lips of all ages—but for foot-hold upon God's Earth?
1898 Argosy Aug. 166 A more villainous collection of desperadoes never blighted God's earth.
1905 L. Woolf Let. 16 July (1990) 96 He..spent the whole morning in trying vainly to make his room not the foulest & hugest filthpacket on God's earth.
1922 S. Lewis Babbitt xx. 255 Now, here's Paul, the nicest, most sensitive critter on God's green earth.
1982 N. Boyd Three Victorian Women 90 One last gigantic effort to turn God's dear earth into hell.
2006 M. O'Farrell Vanishing Act Esme Lennox 188 There is no way on God's earth I would consider him any relation to me.
God's people n. (a) a people or nation regarded as especially favoured by God; spec. the Israelites, Jewish people; (b) (esp. in a Christian context) people belonging to, or under the care of, God; people who worship or believe in God.
ΚΠ
a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add. 27944) (1975) I. xiii. xi. 659 Goddis peple made no ioye, but [satte and] wepte and made mone.
c1405 (c1375) G. Chaucer Monk's Tale (Hengwrt) (2003) l. 502 Goddes peple hadde he [sc. Anthiochus] moost in hate.
c1405 (c1390) G. Chaucer Parson's Tale (Ellesmere) (1877) §760 Thilke þat thou clepest thy thralles been goddes peple. for humble folk been cristes freendes.
c1455 Speculum Misericordie in PMLA (1939) 54 952 (MED) Hee dede goddys peple pursewe To harme.
1551 T. Lever Serm. xiiii. December (new ed.) sig. D.iiiv Theyre preachyng can neuer diswade, to set and ordeyne ryche robbers and ignoraunt teachers ouer the Chrysten congregacion, goddes people, the kynges subiectes.
1606 W. Birnie Blame of Kirk-buriall ix. sig. C3 Pharao Cenchres (that drowned King of Egypt) who hauing a sepulchrall Pyramide elabored by the panefull taske of Gods people.
a1771 J. Gill Compl. Body Doctrinal & Pract. Divinity (1796) I. 495 All the sins of God's people are remissible, and are actually remitted.
1845 J. M. Neale in Mirror of Faith xix. 68 And others told of the river old, that let God's people pass.
1903 Med. Missionary Sept. 215/1 Every son of humanity is a child of God, hence we are all God's people, and God cares for us and will not cast us off.
1979 Newsweek (Nexis) 12 Mar. 91 He takes care of those who need him, God's people all: the pornographer, the drunken cripple, the blind waiter.
1997 R. M. Brown Speaking of Christianity iv. xviii. 121 Where was the God of Sinai, of Abraham and Sarah.., when six million of God's people, including over a million children, were being exterminated?
2012 Times (Nexis) 7 Apr. 99 We have begun to dream about how it [sc. a new cathedral] will give glory to God and inspire God's people.
God's plenty n. plenty, great abundance.In recent use, probably originally with allusion to quot. 1700.
ΚΠ
1550 T. Becon Fortresse of Faythfull sig. Jiv When other perished for lacke of dryncke, he hadde Gods plentye & inoughe, as they vse to saye.
1592 R. Greene Quip for Vpstart Courtier sig. B3 There were sweet Lillies Gods plentie, which shewed faire Virgins need not weepe for wooers.
1670 F. Boothby Marcelia iv. vii. sig. I.3v I'le neither fight nor be beaten for any woman, as long as there's God's plenty of them in the world.
1700 J. Dryden Fables Pref. sig. *Cv 'Tis sufficient to say according to the Proverb, that here is God's Plenty.
1722 O. Dykes Royal Marriage 230 But she seems to be a more real Cornucopia in Deed, abounding also with God's Plenty.
1856 C. L. Hentz Ernest Linwood xviii. 127 Oh, starver in the midst of God's plenty!
1907 Classical Philol. 2 201 Not that there is any lack of numeration in those copies—there is God's plenty of it.
1991 R. Rogers Self & Other i. 3 When it comes to selecting explanatory frameworks in the field of object relations theory, there is God's plenty to choose from.
God's poor n. now rare the poor regarded as entrusted by God to the care of the devout.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > possession > poverty > [noun] > poor person > poor people or the poor
waedlec888
needfula1200
needya1225
poorc1225
God's poorc1230
porailc1325
porailsa1425
povertya1450
poorality1536
God's poverty1563
miserable1582
necessitous1622
necessitated1638
ptochocracy1831
fallen1878
worse off1890
po'1945
c1230 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Corpus Cambr.) (1962) 134 Þus bid ure riwle þet we schawin to gode freond as oþre godes poure doð hare meoseise wið milde eadmodnesse.
a1325 St. Sebastian (Corpus Cambr.) l. 68 in C. D'Evelyn & A. J. Mill S. Eng. Legendary (1956) 18 (MED) Aliue ich am ȝute her Hol and sond wiþoute wonde to ssewe Godes poer.
c1535 Ploughman's Tale ii. sig. B.iiv Of goddes poore they haten gestes.
1673 T. Gouge Surest & Safest Way of Thriving 41 Till thou comest in good earnest to be of this mind, God's poor are like to be but little the better for thee.
1700 W. Sherlock Serm. upon Several Occasions ix. 246 Preference..to God's Poor, whom the Divine Providence has made Poor, to the Poor of their own Making.
1898 Daily News 31 May 6/6 We talked of work-houses..and then for the first time I heard colloquially the phrase, ‘God's poor’.
1936 E. Goudge City of Bells ix. 234 Here lived those people referred to by the Dean as the Lower Orders and by Grandfather as God's Poor.
God's poverty n. Obsolete rare = God's poor n.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > possession > poverty > [noun] > poor person > poor people or the poor
waedlec888
needfula1200
needya1225
poorc1225
God's poorc1230
porailc1325
porailsa1425
povertya1450
poorality1536
God's poverty1563
miserable1582
necessitous1622
necessitated1638
ptochocracy1831
fallen1878
worse off1890
po'1945
1563 2nd Tome Homelyes Keeping Clean Church 86 Not forgettyng to bestowe our almes vppon Goddes pouertie [1623 poore].
God's quantity n. colloquial a large amount; an abundance.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > quantity > greatness of quantity, amount, or degree > [noun] > (a) great quantity or amount
felec825
muchc1230
good wone1297
plentyc1300
bushelc1374
sight1390
mickle-whata1393
forcea1400
manynessa1400
multitudea1400
packc1400
a good dealc1430
greata1450
sackful1484
power1489
horseloadc1500
mile1508
lump1523
a deal?1532
peckc1535
heapa1547
mass1566
mass1569
gallon1575
armful1579
cart-load1587
mickle1599
bushelful1600–12
a load1609
wreck1612
parisha1616
herd1618
fair share1650
heapa1661
muchness1674
reams1681
hantle1693
mort1694
doll?1719
lift1755
acre1759
beaucoup1760
ton1770
boxload1795
boatload1807
lot1811
dollop1819
swag1819
faggald1824
screed1826
Niagara1828
wad1828
lashings1829
butt1831
slew1839
ocean1840
any amount (of)1848
rake1851
slather1857
horde1860
torrent1864
sheaf1865
oodlesa1867
dead load1869
scad1869
stack1870
jorum1872
a heap sight1874
firlot1883
oodlings1886
chunka1889
whips1888
God's quantity1895
streetful1901
bag1917
fid1920
fleetful1923
mob1927
bucketload1930
pisspot1944
shitload1954
megaton1957
mob-o-ton1975
gazillion1978
buttload1988
shit ton1991
1895 B. Perry Plated City xix. 354 We've got a stock company, and the rights, and the irrigating canal, and any God's quantity of land.
1911 C. E. W. Bean ‘Dreadnought’ of Darling xxviii. 242 There was God's quantity of fish.
1922 J. Joyce Ulysses ii. xii. [Cyclops] 280 Big foxy thief..lifted any God's quantity of tea and sugar.
1946 D. Du Maurier King's Gen. xxii. 213 Had I command of unlimited forces and possessed God's quantity of ammunition, a bombardment of three days would reduce Plymouth to ashes.
God's truth n. and int. colloquial (a) n. the absolute truth (also with the and as a count noun); also God's honest truth; (b) int. used as an oath.This compound use is distinguished from the simple, literal use ‘true doctrine revealed by or attributed to God’; see, for example, quot. 1737 at sense A. 5a.
ΚΠ
1734 Proc. Old Bailey 10 July 151/1 What I swear, is upon the Truth, and God's Truth.
1755 T. Smollett tr. M. de Cervantes Don Quixote II. ii. xiv. 192 Now, Sir master of mine, is not this God's truth.
1821 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. May 162/1 Na, for that matter, it's a God's truth, that at the dead hour of midnight..I heard her speaking to herself.
1865 J. R. Lowell in Atlantic Monthly June 796 ‘Chance wun't stop to listen to debatin'!’—‘God's truth!’ sez I.
1882 Rep. Select Comm. 153 in U.S. Congress. Serial Set (47th Congr., 1st Sess.: Senate Rep. 878) IV Now, you may not believe me, but this is God's honest truth.
1888 F. T. Elworthy W. Somerset Word-bk. (at cited word) That there's God's truth, nif tidn I an't got a thick stick in my hand!
1896 Evening News (Sydney) 13 May 7/1 ‘Why, God's truth,’ said she, ‘I've forgotten the tay! Now to think o' that!’
1902 O. Wister Virginian x. 111 In admittin' yourself to be a liar you have spoke God's truth for onced.
1951 S. H. Bell December Bride i. vii. 46 To tell ye the God's truth, Agnes, I'm a very worrit man, and I don't know what way to turn, at all!
2006 Daily Mail (Nexis) 31 Jan. The agent..said he had ‘never been asked for, been offered, or given a backhander, and god's truth I don't know anyone who has’.
2010 J. McGregor Even Dogs (2011) iv. 128 Steve's done his time and that's the God's honest truth.
b. With intensifying adjective own, conveying the pre-eminence of what is referred to by the noun, or (esp. in later use) simply for emphasis. Frequently in God's own (good or sweet) time, esp. with reference to something which takes a long time or is done in a leisurely manner.Earliest in God's own country n. at Compounds 2c.God's own (good) time frequently occurs (from an earlier period) in the literal sense ‘a time appointed by God’.
ΚΠ
1807 Monthly Rev. Feb. 152 By Jasus, your honour! you're right there; it is God's own country.
1892 Harper's Mag. Feb. 432/1 A bottler of spring water advertises it as ‘God's own liver remedy’.
1929 L. M. Salmon Why is Hist. Rewritten? ii. 24 ‘Daylight saving time’ has divided society into hostile camps, one demanding the return to ‘God's own time’, without explanation of the applicableness of the descriptive term chosen.
1941 M. Allingham Traitor's Purse xx. 228 Amanda was God's own gift to anyone in a hole.
1948 N. Coward Diary 10 Jan. (2000) 101 Arrived at station, fortunately in good time. God's own monumental balls-up over reservations.
1979 Tucson (Arizona) Citizen 20 Sept. 9 a/2 He's taking God's own sweet time to do everything.
1985 W. Sheed Frank & Maisie xi. 253 The ex-Catholics would, he hoped, wander back in God's own good time.
2009 Toronto Star (Nexis) 21 Dec. a20 Grant was one of God's own rogues.
c.
God's ape n. (a) a fool (obsolete); (b) a person who mimics God, chiefly in the proverb the devil is God's ape.
ΚΠ
a1413 (c1385) G. Chaucer Troilus & Criseyde (Pierpont Morgan) (1881) i. l. 906 How ofte hastow..seyd þat loues seruantz euerychone Of nycete ben verray goddes Apes.
1553 G. Douglas in tr. Virgil Eneados iv. Prol. 21 Ȝour trew suardis [bene] silly goddis apis.
1595 W. Covell Polimanteia sig. B1v Now Satan desiring in this to bee Gods Ape, (thereby the better to abuse the world).
1604 T. Dekker & T. Middleton Honest Whore sig. G2v They that draw shapes, And liue by wicked faces, are but Gods Apes, They come but neere the life.
1607 S. Hieron Spirituall Sonne-ship in Wks. (1620) I. 360 The diuell is Gods ape, and seekes to counterfeit Him almost in euery thing.
1792 W. Huntington Forty Stripes save None for Satan Pref. p. iii Christian Reader, I think I may call Satan God's Ape.
1868 H. W. Longfellow John Endicott i. i. in New Eng. Trag. 12 Ye verify the adage That Satan is God's ape!
1958 C. S. Lewis Refl. on Psalms x. 106 That is why we call him God's Ape; he is always imitating God.
2007 S. Clark in A. Molho et al. Finding Europe iv. 120 The Christian devil was ‘God's ape’, constantly seeking to be honoured in ways that corresponded exactly but inversely with those of the true religion.
God's band n. [ < the genitive of god n. + band n.1] Obsolete a binding obligation or injunction; spec. the bond of marriage.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > kinship or relationship > marriage or wedlock > wedding or nuptials > marriage vows or bonds > [noun] > marriage or wedding bond
knota1225
benda1250
spousing bandc1275
God's banda1425
marriage bond1595
marriage knot1595
marriage noosec1600
noosec1600
marriage tie1664
bridal knot1679
marriage chain1679
the shackles1780
wedding-knot1902
a1425 Templum Domini in R. Cornelius Figurative Castle (Ph.D. diss., Bryn Mawr Coll.) (1930) 108 (MED) Þe fende..gan fande To tempe Adam..And made hym for to breke gods bande.
1489 (a1380) J. Barbour Bruce (Adv.) iv. 41 Hyr dochter..Wes coupillyt in-to Goddis band With Walter stewart off Scotland.
God's board n. Obsolete the altar, as the place where Holy Communion is received.
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > artefacts > division of building (general) > altar > [noun] > communion table
altarOE
God's boarda1200
boardc1200
communion table1549
table1550
communion board1553
altela1555
a1200 (?c1175) Poema Morale (Trin. Cambr.) 311 in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1873) 2nd Ser. 229 Al þat me radeð and singed bifore godes borde, Al hit hangeð and halt bi þese twam worde.
1340 Ayenbite (1866) 235 Hi serueþ at godes borde of his coupe, of his breade, and of his wyne.
c1425 Myrour to Lewde Men & Wymmen (Harl.) (1981) 197 Þei serueþ at Goddes bord and eteiþ of his brede & drinkeþ of his cuppe.
1538 Iniunctions for Clerge (single sheet) They ought not to presume to come to goddes boorde without perfite knowlege of the same.
1620 T. Gataker Mariage Praier 13 The vndue manner of the repairing euen of such to Gods board.
a1670 J. Hacket Scrinia Reserata (1693) ii. 104 A fair white Linnen-Cloth, to cover God's Board.
God's body n. now archaic and rare the sacramental bread. [Compare post-classical Latin corpus Domini (late 2nd or early 3rd cent. in Tertullian) and also corpus Christi (see Corpus Christi n.).]
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > artefacts > consumables > eucharistic elements > bread > [noun]
fleshc1000
ofleteOE
mannaa1200
breada1225
bread of lifea1300
host1303
bodya1325
obleya1325
God's bodya1387
cakec1390
singing bread1432
bread of wheata1450
singing loaf1530
God's bread1535
bread god?1548
round robin?1548
holy bread1552
singing cake1553
Jack-in-the-box1554
wafer-cake?1554
wafer1559
wafer-bread1565
breaden god1570
mass cake1579
wafer-god1623
hostel1624
maker1635
hostie1641
oblata1721
altar bread1839
prosphora1874
a1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. (St. John's Cambr.) (1876) VI. 313 A wenche..fenge Goddes body [L. communionem sanctam] an Ester day.
1451 in A. Clark Lincoln Diocese Documents (1914) 50 I will the prior..haue the Box for goddes body.
1549 J. Ponet Def. Mariage Priestes sig. Cvii v He hadde the same day sayde masse (which he called the makynge of Gods body).
2012 M. Rubin in I. C. Levy et al. Compan. to Eucharist in Middle Ages iii. 448 He made God's body at the altar, and offered communion to deserving parishioners once a year.
God's book n. the Scriptures, the Bible (in plural in Old English).
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > aspects of faith > Bible, Scripture > [noun]
Holy Writc900
writeOE
God's bookOE
writOE
bookOE
Biblea1300
holy lettrurec1330
scripturec1330
the (sacred or holy) writings1340
gospel1393
worda1425
escripture1489
Holy Write1508
theologya1513
the written word1533
Book of God1548
oracle1548
hand biblea1680
good book1740
sacred book1782
the sacred volume1850
bibliotheca1879
Kitab1885
OE Blickling Homilies 21 Gehyron we nu..hwæt awriten is on Godes bocum.
c1175 Ormulum (Burchfield transcript) l. 16900 Þe depe lare off godess boc.
c1275 (?a1200) Laȝamon Brut (Calig.) (1963) l. 7181 Godes boc.
1548 H. Latimer Notable Serm. sig. A.ii All thinges that are written in Goddes boke.
1635 D. Dickson Short Explan. Hebrewes vi. 28. 144 As manie Plagues as are written in God's Booke.
1863 Prophetic Times Jan. 14/2 The question between us and our opponents is..one of grammar and exegesis, as applied to the ascertainment of what God's book teaches.
1978 Third Way 6 Apr. 3/1 Prophecies..were written down and included in God's book.
2004 J. MacDonald God wrote Bk. (rev. ed.) iii. 79 There are still three more benefits you can receive from God's book.
God's chest n. now historical a receptacle (in the Jewish Temple or a church) for money given for charitable purposes. [Compare Middle Low German gōdeskiste, gōdeskaste, German Gotteskasten (1522 in Luther, now historical).]
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > artefacts > furniture > other furniture > [noun] > treasury
corbana1400
God's chest1535
1535 Bible (Coverdale) Mark xii. 41 Iesus sat ouer agaynst the Gods chest & behelde how the people put money in to the Gods chest.
c1600 Will of William Littlebury (Essex Rec. Office: D/P 26/25/19) [Gives £10 to] Godes chest [in Dedham Church].
a1891 W. Walker in Pioneers of Ceylon (1897) 109 The people that stood by the temple door With wonder gazed as they saw the wealth pour Into God's chest from the hoarded store.
1999 C. McIntosh tr. B. Roeck in O. P. Grell et al. Health Care & Poor Relief in Counter-Reformation Europe xiii. 287 There were complaints that the parish's God's Chest, donated long ago by the citizens, had been united with the Jesuits' chest.
God's country n. a country regarded as especially favoured by God; spec. the United States, or some particular part of the United States; cf. God's own country n.
ΚΠ
1709 tr. C. J. Poncet Voy. Æthiopia 16 This is a Plentiful Country, and..the Inhabitants have given it the Name of Beladalla, that is to say God's Country [Fr. païs de dieu].
1722 I. Kimber et al. Hist. Eng. I. vii. 155 Pope Urban..by a zealous Harangue, animated the Prelates..to excite the Faithful to take up Arms for the Recovery of God's Country.
1865 R. H. Kellogg Life & Death in Rebel Prisons 118 I was willing to work hard, if I could only get out of that horrible den, into God's country once more.
1890 G. W. Perrie Buckskin Mose (new ed.) xv. 218 The memory of the little woman I had left behind me in the East, or ‘God's country’.
1904 ‘O. Henry’ Cabbages & Kings xvii. 298 A man had better be in God's country living on free lunch than there.
1906 H. D. Pittman Belle of Bluegrass Country i. 1 I entered ‘God's Country’, as the natives call that portion of Kentucky which lies within a radius of thirty miles of Lexington.
1946 E. B. Thompson Amer. Daughter 10 We can work for..a real home.., out in God's country!
1960 B. Keaton My Wonderful World of Slapstick iv. 65 (heading) Back home again in God's Country.
1995 Denver Post 2 July b1/1 A passenger on the leg from Atlanta to Jackson informs everyone, ‘You're headed into God's country now.’
God's-daughter n. Obsolete rare a person's soul.
ΚΠ
OE Homily (Junius 85) in A. M. Luiselli Fadda Nuove Omelie Anglosassoni (1977) 169 Ic [sc. the soul] wæs Godes dohter and ængla swystor.]
c1450 Jacob's Well (1900) 292 He mordryth goddys dowȝter, þat is, his owen soule.
God's day n. a day or period of time belonging especially to God; spec. †the Day of Judgement, †Easter Day, or the Sabbath; (also) eternity. [With reference to the Day of Judgement after post-classical Latin dies domini (Vulgate); compare day of the Lord at day n. 11a.]
ΚΠ
OE Ælfric Gram. (St. John's Oxf.) 270 Prope est dies domini, gehende is godes dæg.
OE Homily: Larspel & Scriftboc (Corpus Cambr. 421) in A. S. Napier Wulfstan (1883) 244 Oððæt se eahtoða dæg cymð; þæt is domes dæg, þæt is se eca dæg.., godes dæg and ealra halgena dæg.
?a1500 Sermo in die Pasche in R. T. Hampson Medii Ævi Kalendarium (1841) II. 122 [The Paschal Day] in sum place is called Estern Day, in sum place Pace Day, and in sum place Goddis Day.
1652 E. Benlowes Theophila xii. xcvii. 231 Time in Eternities immense Book is But as a short Parenthesis..Gods Day is never-setting Bliss.
1695 E. Pelling Pract. Disc. conc. Redeeming of Time ix. 104 For 'tis not how long, but how well a Man lives, which God considers; nor is it his Years, but his Works, that will be regarded in God's Day.
1797 J. Bowdler Reform or Ruin (ed. 2) 28 How many..spend God's Day in doing their own business, or in jaunting about, or in getting drunk; though it is expressly ordered,..that we shall keep it holy!
1899 K. Chopin Awakening xiii. 91 It must always have been God's day on that low, drowsy island, Edna thought.
1964 Life 25 Dec. 7/2 The paradox is that this pattern will not be fulfilled or verified in history, but only in the suprahistorical event called God's day, the end of time.
2007 R. Saxen Good Eater iii. 30 On God's day there was no sunshine, there were no birds singing, no gentle breeze in the trees—no beauty.
God's eye n. Obsolete (rare before 19th cent.) (a) (probably) clary, Salvia sclarea (cf. oculus Christi n.) (obsolete); (b) English regional germander speedwell, Veronica chamaedrys.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > particular plants > plants and herbs > according to family > Scrophulariaceae (figwort and allies) > [noun] > Veronica or speedwell
lemkea1300
God's eye?a1350
waterlink?a1425
brooklimea1450
fluellin1548
Paul's betony1548
wood-penny1570
water pimpernel1575
ground-hele1578
speedwell1578
wild germander1578
germander chickweed1597
leper's herb1600
lime-wort1666
water purpy1683
water-speedwell1690
beccabunga1706
rock speedwell1719
Welsh speedwell1731
germander speedwell1732
St. Paul's betony1736
vernal speedwell1796
wall speedwell1796
cat's-eye1817
wellink1826
skull-cap1846
forget-me-not1853
veronica1855
angels' eyes1862
horse-cress1879
faverel1884
St. Paul's betony1884
?a1350 in T. Hunt Plant Names Medieval Eng. (1989) 124 [Gallitricum] godes-eie.
1870 Notes & Queries 26 Mar. 325/2 In confirmation of the latter derivation..may be cited ‘Angels' eyes’ and ‘god's eye’, two Devon names for this lovely little plant [sc. Veronica chamædrys].
1877 E. Peacock Gloss. Words Manley & Corringham, Lincs. God's eye, Veronica officinalis. If any one plucks it, his eyes will be eaten.
1913 N. L. Britton & A. Brown Illustr. Flora Northern U.S. (ed. 2) III. 201/2 Veronica Chamaèdrys... Other English names are..angel's-eye, god's-eye.
1920 W. E. Brenchley Weeds of Farm Land xiii. 225 Veronica chamædrys... germander speedwell, god's eye, lady's thimble, etc.
God's-eye view n. [after bird's eye view n. 1] a view as might be seen by God; a view from a very exalted, or high and remote, position.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > sight and vision > thing seen > [noun] > view or scenery > general or extensive
prospect1538
respect1542
general1612
lookout1779
panorama1802
synopsis1844
God's-eye view1865
1865 J. G. Holland Plain Talks 257 A great city is a huge living creature... If we could be lifted above it, and obtain, not a bird's-eye view, but a God's-eye view of it, we should see its arteries throbbing with the majestic currents of life.
1920 A. Huxley Limbo 137 He prided himself on being able to see the thing as a whole, on taking an historical, God's-eye view of it all.
1936 A. Huxley Eyeless in Gaza vii. 85 One has made a habit of not feeling anything very strongly; it's easy, therefore, to take the God's-eye view of things.
1970 Guardian 14 May 9/6 Frank Tuohy's..short stories..are mostly studies in suburban isolation,..the God's-eye-view with God on the stage.
2006 Time Out N.Y. 26 Oct. 111/4 We see underwater swarms of sea anemones, early biplanes taking off and landing with a cute bounce, God's eye views from the Space Shuttle.
God's flower n. Obsolete an everlasting flower; spec. Helichrysum stoechas.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular cultivated or ornamental plants > particular flower or plant esteemed for flower > [noun] > composite flowers > everlasting or immortelle
yellow amaranth1551
gold-flower1578
mothwort1578
God's flower1597
golden cudweed1597
golden mothwort1597
moth-weed1597
aurelia1598
everlasting flower1610
everlasting1633
helichrysum1664
yellowheads1712
immortal herb1731
xeranthemum1736
eternal flower1785
immortelle1832
strawflower1924
1597 J. Gerard Herball ii. 522 Golden Flower is called in Latine Coma aurea..in English Golde Flower, Gods Flower, and Golden Stœcados.
1611 J. Florio Queen Anna's New World of Words 23/1 Amaránto giállo, Goldilockes, Gods-flowre, or Gold-flowre.
1866 J. Lindley & T. Moore Treasury Bot. I. 539/1 God's flower, Helichrysum Stœchas.
God's guest n. Obsolete a stranger, a casual visitor.
ΚΠ
c1400 (?a1387) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Huntington HM 137) (1873) C. xvi. l. 199 Mynstralcie can ich nat muche bote make men murye..and welcome godes gistes [MS gustes].
c1535 Ploughman's Tale iii. sig. C.ii On the poore they woll nought spende Ne no good gyve to goddes gest.
God's image n. Obsolete the human body.After Genesis 1:27: ‘God created man in his owne Image, in the Image of God created hee him’ (King James Bible).
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > the body > [noun]
lichamc888
bodyeOE
earthOE
lichOE
bone houseOE
dustc1000
fleshOE
utter mana1050
bonesOE
bodiȝlichc1175
bouka1225
bellyc1275
slimec1315
corpsec1325
vesselc1360
tabernaclec1374
carrion1377
corsec1386
personc1390
claya1400
carcass1406
lump of claya1425
sensuality?a1425
corpusc1440
God's imagea1450
bulka1475
natural body1526
outward man1526
quarrons1567
blood bulk1570
skinfula1592
flesh-rind1593
clod1595
anatomy1597
veil1598
microcosm1601
machine1604
outwall1608
lay part1609
machina1612
cabinet1614
automaton1644
case1655
mud wall1662
structure1671
soul case1683
incarnation1745
personality1748
personage1785
man1830
embodiment1850
flesh-stuff1855
corporeity1865
chassis1930
soma1958
a1450 (c1410) Dives & Pauper (Douce 295) v. xiv. f. 116 Dispise þou noth godes ymage be ony dedly synne.
1837 Parl. Deb. 3rd Ser. 38 922 Many in that House were old enough to have seen God's image sorely mangled..for what were termed political offences.
1920 Christian Advocate 23 Sept. 1274/1 What can spoil God's image more than a sullen, covetous temperament?
God's kichel n. now English regional (East Anglian) a kind of cake (perhaps originally one given in charity).With quot. c1410 cf. note at kichel n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > dishes and prepared food > cake > [noun] > a cake > cake for specific occasion > others
God's kichelc1410
christening cake1682
moon-cake1688
birthday cake1802
feast cake1845
burial-cake1864
yuan hsiao1945
c1410 (c1395) G. Chaucer Summoner's Tale (Harl. 7334) (1885) l. 1747 Ȝif vs a busshel whet or malt or reye A goddes kichil [c1405 Hengwrt Kechyl] or a trip of cheese.
1598 T. Speght Wks. G. Chaucer B bbb A cake..called a Gods kichell, because godfathers and god-mothers vsed commonly to giue one of them to their god-children, when they asked blessing.
1957 Times 16 Dec. 11/5 I was told in Suffolk these Christmas Eve cakes are known as ‘God's Kitchel’.
2007 Harwich & Manningtree Standard (Nexis) 31 May Their blessing..was given, together with a small cake called a God's kitchel.
God's man n. a man devoted to the service of God, esp. a saint or minister of religion. [Compare Old Frisian godesmon , Middle Low German gōdesman , German Gottesmann (14th cent.), and also Old High German gotman . Compare also man of God n. at man n.1 Phrases 2t and the discussion at that entry.]
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > church government > member of the clergy > [noun]
God's maneOE
priestOE
clerkc1050
secularc1290
vicary1303
minister1340
divinec1380
man of Godc1384
kirkmana1400
man of the churchc1400
cockc1405
Ecclesiastc1405
spiritual1441
ministrator1450
abbé1530
reverend1547
churchman1549
tippet-captain?1550
tippet knight1551
tippet man1551
public minister1564
reading minister1572
clergyman1577
clerk1577
padre1584
minstrel1586
spiritual1600
cleric1623
cassock1628
Levite1640
gownsman1641
teaching elder1642
ecclesiastic1651
religionist1651
crape1682
crape-gown-man1682
man in black1692
soul driver1699
secularist1716
autem jet1737
liturge1737
officiant1740
snub-devil1785
soul doctor1785
officiator1801
umfundisi1825
crape-man1826
clerical1837
God-man1842
Pfarrer1844
liturgist1848
white-choker1851
rook1859
shovel hat1859
sky pilot1865
ecclesiastical1883
joss-pidgin-man1886
josser1887
sin-shiftera1912
sin-buster1931
parch1944
eOE tr. Bede Eccl. Hist. (Tanner) iv. xxvi. 352 Þa geswearc se Godes mon semninga.
a1200 (?c1175) Poema Morale (Trin. Cambr.) 266 in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1873) 2nd Ser. 228 (MED) He..nolde ihere godes men [v.r. godes sonde] þan he sat at his biede.
c1330 in T. Wright Polit. Songs Eng. (1839) 329 He shal be lad into the halle..And Godes man stant ther oute.
?c1450 Life St. Cuthbert (1891) 3588 Spak to þaim þe goddis man.
1866 C. Kingsley Hereward the Wake II. xiv. 232 ‘Shall we burst open the door and kill them all?’ asked Sigtryg, simply. ‘No, King—no. They are God's men; and we have blood enough on our souls.’
2001 Ebony Aug. 50/2 Minister/author Betty Ruth Price..is..the author of..Standing by God's Man, which details her many experiences as a pastor's wife.
God's marks n. now historical and rare plague spots (see plague spot n. 1a); cf. God's token n. 3.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > ill health > blemish > [noun] > scar > of plague or smallpox
pitOE
pock frecken1530
God's marks1531
pock hole1552
pitting1593
pock-arr1611
pockmarka1646
pock-fret1652
plague-stripe1714
1531 in W. H. Turner Select. Rec. Oxf. (1880) 105 He had a pestylensse sore in hys throtte, and a blayne under hys lefte erre, and also was full of Godys markys.
1558 W. Ward tr. G. Ruscelli Secretes Alexis of Piemount f. 40 A very good remedy agaynst the markes of the plage, commonly called Goddes markes [Fr. Tre-bon remede contre les taches de peste, ou pourpre].
1662 J. Hoddesdon Hist. Sr. Thomas More vi. 46 Although after she was thereby throughly awaked, Gods marks and evident undoubted tokens of death plainly appeared upon her; yet she..miraculously recovered.
1665 R. Kingston Pillulæ Pestilentiales 14 In our Language we style the Pestilence the Visitation of God, and the Tokens thereof God's Marks.
2002 W. Viereck in J. Berns & J. van Marle Present-day Dialectol. 125 With regard to disease, the following Christian motivations were among those I found in the British Isles:..God's marks or God's tokens for marks of the plague.
God's own country n. a country or region regarded as especially favoured by God; spec. (a) New Zealand (cf. Godzone n.); (b) the United States, or some particular part of the United States. Compare God's country n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > named regions of earth > America > North America > [noun] > United States
states1776
United States1776
Yankee-land1803
God's own country1807
U.S.1834
Yankland1834
yankeedoodledom1845
Yankeedom1851
the land of the free1884
land of opportunity1948
U.S. of A.1973
the mind > emotion > pleasure > happiness > supreme or heavenly happiness > [noun] > place of supreme happiness
heaveneOE
Edena1225
paradise?a1300
Garden of Eden1535
eutopia1553
happy land1562
Arcady1590
Hesperidesa1592
Elysiuma1616
God's own country1807
lotusland1856
Adamless Eden1876
summerland1895
Shangri-La1941
1807God's own country [see Compounds 2b].
1892 in R. Bailey & H. Roth Shanties (1967) 82 Give me, give me God's own country (from a spieler's point of view), Where the scripper and the sharper conjugate the verb ‘to do’.
1893 T. Bracken Lays & Lyrics 5 I am doing very well here [i.e. in Australia] but I would much sooner live on a far smaller salary in ‘God's own Country’.
1914 G. Atherton Perch of Devil i. 43 They always come home..talkin about..God's Own Country, and the Big Western Heart.
1926 J. Devanny Lenore Divine ii. 20 Richard John Seddon..the popularly acclaimed uncrowned king of the land he himself had named ‘God's Own Country’.
1978 B. E. G. Mason Awatea (rev. ed.) App. 110 E te iwi pakeha! You God's-own-country scum!
2012 Guardian 7 Aug. (Features section) 3 With its golden beaches, majestic moors and spectacular architecture, it [sc. Yorkshire] fully deserves its billing as ‘God's own country’.
God's sand n. [ < the genitive of god n. + sand n.1] Obsolete God's dispensation; what is ordained or sent by God, spec. worldly possessions (cf. God's good n.).
ΘΚΠ
the mind > possession > possessions > [noun] > worldly or secular property > regarded as God's gift
God's sandOE
God's gooda1425
God's send1629
OE Ælfric Lives of Saints (Julius) (1900) II. 62 He com ða þurh Godes sande to þære foresædan byrig.
c1300 St. Thomas Becket (Laud) l. 120 in C. Horstmann Early S.-Eng. Legendary (1887) 110 We wollen us onder-stonde Þat heo is in-to þis londe i-come, it is godes sonde.
a1350 ( in R. H. Robbins Hist. Poems 14th & 15th Cent. (1959) 21 (MED) Alle þe oþer pouraille..mihten be ful blyþe ant þonke godes sonde.
c1405 (c1390) G. Chaucer Shipman's Tale (Hengwrt) (2003) l. 219 Ye haue ynogh pardee of goddes sonde.
a1450 York Plays (1885) 109 With synne was I neuer filid, Goddis sande is on me sene.
a1500 Tale of Basin in M. M. Furrow Ten 15th-cent. Comic Poems (1985) 53 A riche man wex he..And knowen for a gode clerke þoro Goddis sande.
God's send n. (a) = God's sand n. (obsolete); (b) = godsend n.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > possession > possessions > [noun] > worldly or secular property > regarded as God's gift
God's sandOE
God's gooda1425
God's send1629
the world > action or operation > advantage > [noun] > an advantage, benefit, or favourable circumstance > a benefit > as sent from God or heaven
God's gift1586
God's send1629
godsend1779
heaven-send1811
1629 Z. Boyd Balme of Gilead i. 36 Magicians of Egypt called the plague the finger of God, or Gods send.
a1679 J. Brown Life of Faith (1726) ii. xv. 127 We should make the Cross of Christ welcome, because it is God's Send.
1701 J. Brand Brief Descr. Orkney, Zetland 37 The more ignorant People construct this as a favourable Providence to them, therefore they call these wracks, God's send, tho not so favourable to the poor Mariners and others who suffer thereby.
1765 Scots Mag. Nov. 614 On the 30th the vessel was drove on shore in the parish of Mochrum; where it was no sooner known, that a God's send (as they call it) had come in there, than men, women, and children, flocked to the shore.
1820 Cobbett's Weekly Polit. Reg. 28 Oct. 986 It has been a perfect ‘God's send’ to us. It has been so much of clear gains.
1856 J. Redmond Let. 4 Dec. in J. Rees Fishery of Arklow (2008) ii. 38 When I began my mission here a wreck was a God's send & to speak against wrecking was a heresy.
1956 Amer. Motorcycling Sept. 33/2 Just a note in appreciation to you and your organization, for the replacement of blood donated to me by your club. It was truly a God's send to me and my family.
2011 K. V. Williams My Enemy's Tears 321 Ah Rebecca, what would I do without you and your sisters to help me?.. A God's send, you are.
God's Sunday n. now historical Easter Day.
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > worship > liturgical year > feast, festival > specific Christian festivals > Holy Week > [noun] > Sunday in
EastereOE
Easter DayOE
Easter SundayOE
pasch dayc1175
resurrectionc1300
Great Dayc1350
pace daya1425
God's Sundaya1500
a1500 (?a1390) J. Mirk Festial (Gough) (1905) 131 This day ys called Godis Sonday; for Crist, Godis sonne of Heuen, þys day roos from deþ to lyue.
?a1500 Sermo in die Pasche in R. T. Hampson Medii Ævi Kalendarium (1841) II. 184 Þis is callede in some place Astur Day; & in sum place Pasche Day, & in summe place Godeis Sunday.
1835 Weekly Visitor 22 Sept. 351/1 By a record of the year 1511, it appears that the hall fire was discontinued at Easter-day, then called God's Sunday.
2012 Carmarthen Jrnl. (Nexis) 4 Apr. 56 In ancient times, Easter Sunday itself was known as the ‘Great Day’ or the ‘Feast of Feasts’. In parts of Britain it was also known as ‘God's Sunday’.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2014; most recently modified version published online June 2022).

godv.

Brit. /ɡɒd/, U.S. /ɡɑd/
Forms: also with capital initial.
Origin: Formed within English, by conversion. Etymon: god n.
Etymology: < god n. In sense 1 after Middle Low German vorgōden; compare Dutch vergoden to make into a god (1576), to make into a partaker of the Divine nature (1583).
1. transitive. To cause to become one with God; to make (a person) a partaker of the Divine nature. Chiefly in passive, esp. in godded with God, used by the Familists in the 16th and 17th centuries; cf. Christ v., familist n. 1.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the supernatural > deity > Christian God > [adjective] > made one with
godded with God1574
1574 C. Vitell tr. H. Niclaes Prophetie Spirit of Loue iii. f. 8 To becom whollie godded [Middle Low Ger. vorgodet] with God and his Christ, or incorporated to thatsame [sic] godly Beeinge.
1576 J. Knewstub Serm. in Confut. Heresies (1579) S 1 b For H.N. his Christe was..first man, and after, by his suffering, was Godded with God.
1645 E. Pagitt Heresiogr. 79 All illuminated Elders are Godded with God, or deified.
1656 Ld. President in T. Burton Diary (1828) I. 62 Your Familists affirm that they are Christed in Christ, and Godded in God.
1661 Pagitt's Heresiogr. (ed. 6) 215 There was one Richard Lane a young man..said..that he was changed into the Divine nature, that he was Christed with Christ and Godded with God, and consequently perfect God and perfect man.
1739 J. Trapp Righteous Over-much 63 Ridiculous Jargon of being Godded with God.
1751 G. Lavington Second Let. to Whitfield 38 For surely to impute to us the Righteousness of Christ, as God, is Godding us with God.
1837 T. W. Jenkyn Union Holy Spirit & Church ii. i. 254 They are not, according to some mystics, ‘godded with God’ when they are filled with the Spirit.
1932 R. M. Jones Mysticism & Democracy Eng. Commonw. iv. 128 Every person who is worthy to be called a Christian..‘godded with God’ in the spirit of perfect Love.
1975 16th Cent. Jrnl. 6 51 Their desire to be baptised mystically with the Holy Spirit, ‘Godded with God’, was a prelude to spiritual anarchy.
2011 S. M. Lucas God's Grand Design vi. 95 While the Spirit does not communicate his own proper nature, so that believers are somehow ‘“Godded” with God or “Christed” with Christ’.
2.
a. transitive. To make into a god, to deify; to worship as a god. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > worship > [verb (transitive)]
heryc735
wortheOE
hallowa1000
blessOE
worshipa1200
servec1225
anourec1275
adorec1300
glorify1340
laud1377
magnifya1382
praisea1382
sacre1390
feara1400
reverencec1400
anorna1425
adorn1480
embrace1490
elevatea1513
reverent1565
god1595
venerate1623
thanksgivea1638
congratule1657
doxologizea1816
1595 E. Spenser Colin Clouts come Home Againe sig. D4v Iove..taking [Cupid] vp to heauen, him godded new.
1608 J. Sylvester tr. G. de S. Du Bartas Deuine Weekes & Wks. (new ed.) ii. iv. 81 He, Godding Calves, makes Izrael to Sin.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Coriolanus (1623) v. iii. 11 This last old man..Lou'd me, aboue the measure of a Father, Nay godded me indeed. View more context for this quotation
1668 J. Glanvill Plus Ultra xiii. 93 In those days..men Godded their Benefactors.
1710 W. Brown Impiety & Superstition Expos'd 49 The Toasted Cake is Godded by the Priest.
1796 R. Jephson Conspiracy i. 14 This good emperor, Whom our prone senate have already godded,..is penetrable By any gallant steel.
a1849 T. L. Beddoes Death's Jest-bk. (1850) iv. iii. 118 Are not our hearts, in these great pleasures godded, Let out awhile to their eternity, And made prophetic?
1870 H. N. Hudson Plays Shakespeare I. 428 The passage where Cassius mockingly gods Cæsar.
1884 Ld. Tennyson Becket v. iii. 209 How the good priest gods himself!
1956 C. S. Lewis Till we have Faces i. xxi. 250 ‘She began by being a mortal.’ ‘And how was she godded?’
b. transitive. to god it: = to play the god at god n. and int. Phrases 4b. rare.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > exaggeration, hyperbole > speak or do with exaggeration [phrase]
to go beyond the moon?c1430
to cast beyond the moon1559
to lay on load?1562
to lay it on with a trowela1616
all (his) geese are swans1621
to draw (also pull, shoot) the long bow1667
to lay it on thick1740
to sling (also fling, throw) the hatchet1778
to come it1796
to make a thing about (also of)1813
to draw with the long-bow1823
to pitch it strong1823
to overegg the pudding1845
to put (spread, etc.) it on thick1865
to god it1870
to strong it1964
to stretch it (or things)1965
1870 H. N. Hudson Plays Shakespeare I. 428 Thus we have Cæsar..godding it in the loftiest style when the daggers of the assassins are on the very point of leaping at him.
1896 F. H. Trench in Daily News 21 Dec. 6/5 Who, by the silent Greeks' immortal main, Gods it on earth against the human cause.

Derivatives

ˈgodded adj. [compare ungodded adj.]
ΚΠ
?1574 C. Vitell tr. H. Niclaes Dicta i. f. 3v All that which a perfect godded Man [Middle Low Ger. vorgodet Minsche] speaketh, witnesseth, and teacheth, among the Disciples & Beleeuers of the Woord.
a1616 F. Beaumont Marriage Young Gentlewoman with Anc. Man in Poems (1640) I 1 a Smooth, as the godded Swan, or Venus Dove.
1675 J. Smith Christian Relig. Appeal i. 18 While impious Cæsar and his Godded rout spurn [etc.].
1718 J. Claggett Arianism Anatomized 73 No Godded Creature, as Mr. Chubb's Christ..would be in any respect like him.
1826 Lit. Lounger May 230 These people beg us send a deputation To Jove, the ruler of the Godded nation.
1868 Congregationalist & Boston Recorder 19 Nov. It wants a Godded man to know who God is.
1960 Times Lit. Suppl. 8July 484/2 St Paul's godded dome That nobody calls home.
1998 Atlanta Jrnl.-Constit. (Nexis) 28 May 2 The new world of these godded athletes.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2014; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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