"Zounds" Quotes from Famous Books
 ... "Zounds!" cried Coates; "If I had a similar opportunity, it should be neck or nothing. Either he or I should reach the scragging-post first. I'd take him, dead ...
— Rookwood • William Harrison Ainsworth
... "Why, zounds!" he cried; "where have I got? Is, then, my high descent forgot? Must I endure the vile attacks Of carriers' drudges—common hacks? May Roan and Dobbin poke their noses In cribs where my great nose reposes? Good gracious me! why, here's old Ball!— No longer ...
— Fables of John Gay - (Somewhat Altered) • John Gay
... and replied, "You are not the only person who has said so. One day, when Napier was dining with me, he threw himself back in his chair, exclaiming, with a hearty laugh, 'Zounds! Landor, I've just discovered a resemblance. You look ...
— The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 17, No. 104, June, 1866 • Various
... "Dear me! You don't say so!" we proceed through the stages of "Heigh ho!" "O fye!" "Indeed!" "There now!" to that lively dandy who exclaims "Ha! Ha!" and that irascible old gentleman who is shaking his fist at him with the reply, "God's zounds! hold your tongue!" To the same line of social satire belong the "Front, side, and back view of a modern Gentleman," "Sunday Evening," "Morning, or the Man of Taste," and "Evening, or the Man of Feeling" (engraved by J. ...
— The Eighteenth Century in English Caricature • Selwyn Brinton
... we flourished brave, like scripture-trees called bays, Faring high, drinking hard, in money up to head —Not to say, boots and shoes, when ... Zounds, I nearly said— Lord, to unlearn one's language! How shall we labor, wife? Have you, fast hold, the Book? Grasp, grip it, for your life! See, sirs, here's life, salvation! Here's—hold but out ...
— Browning's England - A Study in English Influences in Browning • Helen Archibald Clarke
... "Bob. Zounds, the castle's on fire! Sir A. Yes. Bob. Where's your patent liquid for extinguishing fire? Sir A. It is not mixed. Bob. Then where's your patent fire-escape? Sir A. It is not fixed. Bob. You are never at a ...
— Rejected Addresses: or, The New Theatrum Poetarum • James and Horace Smith
... matter easy to settle. Your maid Deborah and the rest of the wenches shall powder their hair henceforth.' Whereat his Lady exclaimed in wrath, 'Lud, Sir John! Have you taken leave of your senses? A parcel of Abigails flaunting about the house in powder—oh, preposterous!' Whereat Sir John exclaimed 'Zounds!' and hotly demonstrated that since his wife had given up powder there could be no harm in its assumption by her maids. Whereat his Lady screamed and had the vapours and asked how he would like to see his own footmen flaunting about the house in powder. ...
— And Even Now - Essays • Max Beerbohm
... "Zounds!" muttered Lawyer O'Meara, picking his way back across the muddy street, and entering his own dwelling. "To think of accusing a man of so much coolness, and presence of mind, of such a bungling piece of work as this. It's a queer suspicion, but I could almost swear ...
— The Diamond Coterie • Lawrence L. Lynch
... but tis the tricke of most of these Sergeants, all clincum clancum. Gods dynes[118], I am an Onyon if I had not rather serve formost in the forlorne hoope of a battell or runne poynt blancke against the mouth of a double charged Cannon then come under the arrests of some their pewter pessels. Zounds, tis hotter a great deale then hell mouth and Dives burning in Sulphur: but thou art none of the genealogy of them. Where must we ...
— A Collection of Old English Plays, Vol. III • Various
... "Zounds! Did I not? It is only a week since I paid a visit to the very same place myself, and I believe the creature was ...
— The Memoires of Casanova, Complete • Jacques Casanova de Seingalt
... "Zounds, Margot dear," de Virelle blurted out aside, for even his dull senses saw I was not pleased, "our good Moliere must have had this hermit captain in his mind when he made Alceste to rail so at the hypocrisies of the world, and urge the telling of truth ...
— The Black Wolf's Breed - A Story of France in the Old World and the New, happening - in the Reign of Louis XIV • Harris Dickson
... then is a couple of field pieces; zounds, sir!'—(the major has found this expletive in Lever's novels, and adopted it as particularly ...
— The Continental Monthly, Vol. III, No. V, May, 1863 - Devoted to Literature and National Policy • Various
... [Aside.] I'll lead them all a dance. [Aloud.] Zounds! Villain! Rascal! My corns! I believe the rogue is hurting me on purpose—because ...
— The German Classics of The Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, Vol. VII. • Various
... should not be able with any degree of honour to contrive an evasion. "It is true," said he, "I am in a most confounded passion, but a wise general never proceeds to action without having first deliberated. Zounds, blood and fire! would I could put an end to the existence of so presumptuous a villain! But then it must be considered that Mr. Prettyman is six foot high, and I am not five. He is as athletic as Ajax, but ...
— Damon and Delia - A Tale • William Godwin
... you, House-wife, here lies the Charm, that conjur'd this Fellow in I'm sure on't, come out you Rascal, do so: Zounds take her from the Door, or I'll spurn her from it, and break your Neck ...
— The Busie Body • Susanna Centlivre
... do you suspect? Be calm now, don't speak in a passion. You are a witness, sir—a dispassionate, unprejudiced witness. Zounds and fury! this is the most insolent, unprovoked, diabolical—but whom do you ...
— Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Vol. 2, No. 8, January, 1851 • Various
... the least, Mr. Hastings. We like your company of all things. (To him.) Zounds! George, sure you won't go? how can ...
— She Stoops to Conquer - or, The Mistakes of a Night. A Comedy. • Oliver Goldsmith
... he? Where is Zerviah Hope? The man should be sent for. He should receive the thanks of the committee. He should receive the acknowledgments of the city. And we've set on him like detectives! hunted him down! Zounds! The city is disgraced. Find him ...
— Stories by American Authors, Volume 8 • Various
... Hurricane, Brooding down the Spanish main, "Shall I see my forces, zounds! Measured by square inch and pounds, With detectives at my back When I double on my track, And my secret paths made clear, Published o'er the hemisphere To each gaping, prying crew? Shall I? ...
— East and West - Poems • Bret Harte
... as he was dressing, and laying it before him on the toilet when he came to pick his teeth. The last recital I gave him of what he said for half an hour before was, 'What, the devil! where is the washball? call the chairmen! d—n them, I warrant they are at the alehouse already! zounds! and confound them!' When he came to the glass he takes up my note—'Ha! this fellow is worse than me: what, does he swear with pen and ink?' But, reading on, he found them to be his own words. The stratagem had so ...
— Isaac Bickerstaff • Richard Steele
... RAZ. Zounds! I smelt it long ago. You may depend upon it there has being something going forward hereabouts. Yes, yes! I can tell you, Spiegelberg, you will be welcome to our captain with your recruits; he, too, has got hold of some ...
— The Works of Frederich Schiller in English • Frederich Schiller
... an action brought by Timothy Higgin,' etc., and down I go, no more to be remembered and thought of than if I had never existed. How different it would be if I were the leader! Zounds, how I would worry the witnesses, browbeat the evidence, cajole the jury, and soften the judges! If the Lord were, in His mercy, to remove old Mills and Kinshella before Tuesday, who knows but my fortune might be made? This supposition once started, set me speculating upon all the possible chances ...
— Charles O'Malley, The Irish Dragoon, Volume 1 (of 2) • Charles Lever
... "There, Fernando, by zounds, there is some rich fellow you can be sure!" said Sukey as the vehicle drove by. "Egad! I would like to see who is ...
— Sustained honor - The Age of Liberty Established • John R. Musick,
... look! yoho! yoho! Nancy is off!' the farmer cried, Advancing by the river side, Red-kerchieft and brown-coated;—'So, My girl, who else could leap like that? So neatly! like a lady! 'Zounds! Look at her how she leads the hounds!' And waving his dusty beaver hat, He cheered across the chase-filled water, And clapt his arm about his daughter, And gave to Joan a courteous hug, And kiss that, like a stubborn plug ...
— The Shaving of Shagpat • George Meredith
... "Od's zounds, and you need a trouncing. And so shall I give it you, else my dignity would not hold its place." Suiting action to word the knight reared his horse, prepared to bring ...
— In the Court of King Arthur • Samuel Lowe
... "Zounds!" burst out Jack, in his amazement; then he turned and roared to the gaping and snickering soldiers, "Get out of here, every doodle of you, and be—to you!" Keeping his back to the bed, he said, "I pray your pardon, ma'am, for disturbing you; our spies assured ...
— Janice Meredith • Paul Leicester Ford
... oils the mouths of the lip-serving lords of the land. And you,' he continued, turning suddenly upon our hero, 'are you ready to join the great cause which will make England what it was when the learned Alfred reigned in the land? Zounds, man, speak out, and pick not ...
— The Captain of the Pole-Star and Other Tales • Arthur Conan Doyle
... "Zounds!" he cried, starting to his feet, as if electrified, "can you mean it? Then you stole it the night ...
— The Masked Bridal • Mrs. Georgie Sheldon
... retir'd, And Julius in a general hiss expir'd, Sage Booth to Cibber cried, "Compute your gains; These Egypt dogs, and their old dowdy queens, But ill requite these habits and these scenes! To rob Corneille for such a motley piece— His geese were swans, but, zounds, thy swans are geese." Rubbing his firm, invulnerable brow, The bard replied, "The critics must allow, 'Twas ne'er in Caesar's destiny to run." Wils bow'd, and bless'd the gay, pacific pun. ...
— The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction - Vol. 13, Issue 353, January 24, 1829 • Various
... too hot. Zounds! I may bring it as near my cheek as I please; my skin is so tough that I don't feel the heat," ...
— The Wandering Jew, Complete • Eugene Sue
... knotty case was o'er, Shook hands, and were as good friends as before. "Zounds!" says the losing client, "How come you To be such friends, who were such foes just now?" "Thou fool," says one, "we lawyers, tho' so keen, Like shears, ne'er cut ourselves, but ...
— Life and Literature - Over two thousand extracts from ancient and modern writers, - and classified in alphabetical order • J. Purver Richardson
... blasphemes the name of God or says, "By {173} the body, 'sblood, zounds" or anything like, or who gives himself to the devil or uses similar execrable imprecations, he shall be punished. . ...
— The Age of the Reformation • Preserved Smith
... might make Lisetta speak farther, and said, 'Faith, madam, an the angel Gabriel be your lover and tell you this, needs must it be so; but methought not the angels did these things.' 'Gossip,' answered the lady, 'you are mistaken; zounds, he doth what you wot of better than my husband and telleth me they do it also up yonder; but, for that I seem to him fairer than any she in heaven, he hath fallen in love with me and cometh full oft to lie ...
— The Decameron of Giovanni Boccaccio • Giovanni Boccaccio
... "Zounds! What is all this merchant's talk about webs and threads and thrums?" exclaimed La Corne. "There is no memory so good as a soldier's, Amelie, and for good reason: a soldier on our wild frontiers is compelled to be faithful to old friends and old flannels; he cannot help himself to new ...
— The Golden Dog - Le Chien d'Or • William Kirby
... himself. "Zounds!" he stormed. "I have had enough impudence to contend with to-night. Begone; or up you ...
— Mistress Nell - A Merry Tale of a Merry Time • George C. Hazelton, Jr.
... 'Od zounds! if ye modden be a stranger here in very truth, goodman. That wer Sir John and his dame, and his children Elizabeth, ...
— A Changed Man and Other Tales • Thomas Hardy
... the ship at anchor, being driven back by contrary winds, they resolved to make the best of their way aboard; but on the way, whom should they meet but young Avery, who had no sooner seen them, but he cried after them. "Zounds," says the Boatswain, "let's take the young dog aboard, and his mother shall soon be glad to adjust the reckoning more to our satisfaction before ...
— Pirates • Anonymous
... and zounds again! A pest upon the fellow! (He strides up and down the room, keeping out of the way of his sword as much as possible.) Would that I might pink ...
— Happy Days • Alan Alexander Milne
... fain have laughed, but held herself in, being minded to hear more from her. Wherefore she said:—"God's faith, Madam, if 'tis the Angel Gabriel, and he tells you so, why, so of course it must needs be; but I wist not the angels meddled with such matters." "There you erred, gossip," said the lady: "zounds, he does it better than my husband, and he tells me they do it above there too, but, as he rates my charms above any that are in heaven, he is enamoured of me, and not seldom visits me: so now dost see?" So away went the gossip so agog to tell the story, that ...
— The Decameron, Volume I • Giovanni Boccaccio
... she owns half the stocks! Zounds! Thomas, she could pay the national debt as easily as I could my washerwoman! She has a lapdog that eats out of gold,—she feeds her parrot with small pearls,—and all her thread-papers ...
— The Rivals - A Comedy • Richard Brinsley Sheridan
... VALINGFORD. Zounds, what a cross is this to my conceit! But, Valingford, search the depth of this devise. Why may not this be fained subteltie, by Mountneys invention, to the intent that I seeing such occasion should leave off my suit and not any more ...
— Fair Em - A Pleasant Commodie Of Faire Em The Millers Daughter Of - Manchester With The Love Of William The Conquerour • William Shakespeare [Apocrypha]
... cunningly acres of despatches to Prince Eugene; never swears, though a military man, except on great occasions one oath, JARNI-BLEU,—which is perhaps some flash-note version of CHAIR-DE-DIEU, like PARBLEU, 'Zounds and the rest of them, which the Devil cannot prosecute you for; whereby an economic man has the pleasure ...
— History Of Friedrich II. of Prussia, Volume V. (of XXI.) • Thomas Carlyle
... "Zounds! my dear Aaron," cried he, ironically, "what dentist are you in league with? Gelid has just broken off his favorite ...
— Hair Breadth Escapes - Perilous incidents in the lives of sailors and travelers - in Japan, Cuba, East Indies, etc., etc. • T. S. Arthur
... "Zounds, man! here's a little fortune in itself," returned the other, carefully tying them up. "I'd be a ...
— The Brother Clerks - A Tale of New-Orleans • Xariffa
... three disbelieving voices, their owners too dumfounded to take exceptions to the sneer in tone and words. "Zounds, man!—what did you come for, then?" ...
— The Tangled Threads • Eleanor H. Porter
... that you were doing him to death," coolly responded Vere, and his eyes flickered to the white form on the stones. "Zounds! ...
— Nuala O'Malley • H. Bedford-Jones
... "Zounds!" shouted the giant. "Can you think of nothing but dress, Madam? No, it is far better than something to wear; it is something to eat. Come, put on ...
— Prince Vance - The Story of a Prince with a Court in His Box • Eleanor Putnam
... easy, I entreat," was the answer from within. "There is nothing to alarm, but rather to reassure, in his actions—he prepares his pistols and looks to their priming. Zounds! one must be ready for all contingencies with ten miles of unfrequented road ahead ...
— Tales from Many Sources - Vol. V • Various
... would be an excellent girl if her head had not been turned. I fear she is now become incorrigible! Zounds, what a lucky fellow I am to be still a bachelor! They may talk of the devotion of the sex—but the most faithful attachment in life is that of a woman in love—with ...
— The Lady of Lyons - or Love and Pride • Edward Bulwer Lytton
... "Zounds!" exclaimed Gevrol, "and I—" He stopped short, like a man whose impulse had exceeded his discretion, and who would ...
— Monsieur Lecoq • Emile Gaboriau
... think!, lackadaisy!^, my stars, my goodness!, gracious goodness!, goodness gracious!, mercy on us!, heavens and earth!, God bless me!, bless us, bless my heart!, odzookens!^, O gemini!, adzooks!^, hoity-toity!, strong!, Heaven save the mark, bless the mark!, can such things be!, zounds!, 'sdeath! [Contr.], what on earth, what in the world!, who would have thought it!, &c (inexpectation) 508 [Obs.]; you don't say so!, You're kidding!. No kidding? what do you say to that!, nous verrons! [Fr.], how now!, where am I? Phr. vox faucibus haesit [Lat.]; one's hair ...
— Roget's Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases: Body • Roget
... which had occurred a few days before his arrival. The Emperor, although he had a high opinion of Talma, thought him completely in the wrong, and repeated several times, "A man of his age! A man of his age! that is inexcusable. Zounds!" added he, smiling, "do not people speak evil of me also? Have I not also critics who do not spare me? He should not be more sensitive than I?" This affair, however, had no disagreeable result for Talma; for the Emperor was much attached ...
— The Private Life of Napoleon Bonaparte, Complete • Constant
... fancied you had in mind even deeper play for the future. A vastly interesting game, this of politics. You stake your head that you can turn a king and zounds! ...
— A Daughter of Raasay - A Tale of the '45 • William MacLeod Raine
... "Zounds! I think it does indeed!" cried the Gascon, who reckoned upon this letter for making his way at court. "It ...
— The Three Musketeers • Alexandre Dumas, Pere
... mark is placed after interjections, after sentences and clauses of sentences of passionate import, and after solemn invocations and addresses. "Zounds! the man's in earnest." "Pshaw! what can we do?" "Bah! what's that to me?" "Indeed! then I must look to it." "Look, my lord, it comes!" "Rest, rest, perturbed spirit!" "O heat, dry up my brains!" "Dear maid, kind sister, ...
— The Verbalist • Thomas Embly Osmun, (AKA Alfred Ayres)
... lawyers, when a knotty cause was o'er, Shook hands and were as good friends as before, "Zounds!" says the losing client, "how come yaw To be such friends, who were such foes just naw?" "Thou fool," says one, "we lawyers tho' so keen, Like shears, ne'er ...
— The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction, No. 290 - Volume X. No. 290. Saturday, December 29, 1827. • Various
... hedge, as he said he had no idea of having his secrets overheard. I saw he was talking to her instead of she to him, and by his glancing towards us now and then, that he was giving the baggage some private hints. When they returned to us, he assumed a very serious air. "Zounds!" said he, "it's very astonishing how these creatures come by their knowledge; this girl has told me some things that I thought no ...
— Bracebridge Hall • Washington Irving
... "Zounds! I'd like to shake the rascal out of his jacket. He's been wanting Gilly's place; but he can't get it. What do ...
— Golden Days for Boys and Girls, Vol. XII, Jan. 3, 1891 • Various
... "Zounds! 'tis evident that in the Long and dreadful Thirty Years' war. E'en this plaguy gout adopted Something of the art of tactics. The attack begins in order; First the skirmishers go forward, Then the flying columns ...
— The Trumpeter of Saekkingen - A Song from the Upper Rhine. • Joseph Victor von Scheffel
... OLDBOY enter. They chuckle, and poke one another in the ribs, remarking "Gad" and "Zounds" at intervals. They bless the young couple, and order up some of the old Madeira. The curtain falls as OLDBOY gives the health of the young people, with the wish that they may have a dozen children, and a cellar never ...
— Punchinello, Volume 2, No. 37, December 10, 1870 • Various
... vain. Zounds! not a soul Will pass and do obeisance to the cap. But yesterday the place swarm'd like a fair; Now the old green looks like a desert, quite, Since yonder scarecrow hung ...
— The German Classics of The Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, Vol. III • Kuno Francke (Editor-in-Chief)
... me to say, sir, you're a fool," Return'd the bragger. Language like this no man can suffer cool: It made the listener stagger; So, thunder-stricken, he at once replied, "The traveler lied Who had the impudence to tell it you;" "Zounds! then d'ye mean to swear before my face That anchovies don't grow like ...
— The Book of Humorous Verse • Various
... "Zounds! the old man dying! Yes, I'll go directly," said the watchman, moving off. He had been on the beat twenty years, and felt an individual interest in all those whose property and lives he guarded. Then May, thankful for his promptness, remembered to have heard that ice applications to the ...
— May Brooke • Anna H. Dorsey
... teeth. The last recital I gave him of what he said for half an hour before, was, 'What, a pox rot me! Where is the washball? Call the chairmen: damn them, I warrant they are at the ale-house already! Zounds, and confound them.' When he came to the glass, he takes up my note—'Ha! this fellow is worse than me: what, does he swear with pen and ink?' But reading on, he found them to be his own words. The stratagem had so good an ...
— The Tatler, Volume 1, 1899 • George A. Aitken
... me, forlorn!" egregious foppery! I cannot buss thy fist,[571] play with thy hair, Swearing by Jove, "thou art most debonair!" Not I, by cock! but [I] shall tell thee roundly,— Hark in thine ear,—zounds, I can ...
— The Works of Christopher Marlowe, Vol. 3 (of 3) • Christopher Marlowe
... once struck with the largeness of a pumpkin and the thinness of the stem upon which it grew. "What could the Almighty have been thinking about?" he cried. "He has certainly chosen a bad place for a pumpkin to grow. Eh zounds! Now I would have hung it on one of these oaks. That would have been just as it should be. Like fruit, like tree! What a pity, Hodge," said he, addressing himself, "that you were not on the spot to give advice at the Creation which the parson preaches about. Everything would have been ...
— The Original Fables of La Fontaine - Rendered into English Prose by Fredk. Colin Tilney • Jean de la Fontaine
... "Zounds! Lady Aunt! I do advise you to bestow your pity on her! Three months after Leipzic, she married a fellow named Langevin ...
— The Man With The Broken Ear • Edmond About
... CLEANTE Zounds, brother, you are mad, I think! Or else You're making sport of me, with such a speech. What are you driving at with all ...
— Tartuffe • Jean-Baptiste Poquelin Moliere
... concealed themselves in a clump of pines near the road, with the enemy's lines in full view. About sunrise five dragoons left the town and dashed up the road towards the place where the heroes were concealed. The face of Sergeant Macdonald kindled up with the joy of battle. "Zounds, Macdonald," said General Horry, "here's an odds against us, five to two." "By my soul now captain," he replied, "and let 'em come on. Three are welcome to the sword of Macdonald." When the dragoons were fairly opposite, ...
— An Historical Account of the Settlements of Scotch Highlanders in America • J. P. MacLean
... In She Stoops to Conquer (Act i. sc. 2), when Tony ends his directions to the travellers by telling them,—'coming to the farmer's barn you are to turn to the right, and then to the left, and then to the right about again, till you find out the old mill;' Marlow exclaims: 'Zounds, man! we could as soon find ...
— Life Of Johnson, Vol. 1 • Boswell
... soaring above the miseries of this world. Your Cruchard is as sensitive as if he were divested of skin. And imbecility, self-sufficiency, injustice exasperate him more and more. Thus the ugliness of the Germans who surround me shuts off the view of the Righi!!! Zounds! ...
— The George Sand-Gustave Flaubert Letters • George Sand, Gustave Flaubert
... Well, Master Doctor, an your devils come not away quickly, you shall have me asleep presently: zounds, I could eat myself for anger, to think I have been such an ass all this while, to stand gaping after the devil's ...
— Dr. Faustus • Christopher Marlowe
... "Zounds!" said Fink; "the whole corps marches as if on parade up to the castle front. If they mean to storm your fortress on this side, they have the most remarkable conceptions of the nature of a strong place. ...
— Debit and Credit - Translated from the German of Gustav Freytag • Gustav Freytag
... "Zounds! you take away one's breath with this hail-storm of writs and pleas, master lawyer!" cried Nicholas. "But in one respect I am of your 'worthy and singular good' client's, opinion, and would rather trust to my own hand for the defence of my property than ...
— The Lancashire Witches - A Romance of Pendle Forest • William Harrison Ainsworth
... people think," returned Carrie, while John Jr., who was just going out to ride, and had stopped a moment at the door, exclaimed, "Zounds, Cad, I wonder if you fancy yourself better than 'Lena Rivers. If you do, you are the only one that thinks so. Why, you can't begin to compare with her, and it's a confounded shame that she isn't invited, and so I shall tell them if I have ...
— 'Lena Rivers • Mary J. Holmes
... them on that occasion is not known; but Rosine's answer was unfavourable. Mr. John De Graffenreid Atwood bowed till his hat touched the lawn grass, and went away with his head high, but with a sore wound in his pedigree and heart. A Hemstetter refuse an Atwood! Zounds! ...
— Cabbages and Kings • O. Henry
... forward). 'Tis only I. Go on with the candles, landlord. RIGBY (joyfully). Only you, Dick Stockton! Zounds! There's none whom I'd sooner see! Quick! Tell me the news! These be stirring days, and here am I tied to this tavern-room, and afraid to leave it lest those brawling red-coats loot it while I'm ...
— Patriotic Plays and Pageants for Young People • Constance D'Arcy Mackay |
