Gadzooks

[gad-zooks]

interjection Archaic.

(used as a mild oath.)

Also Odzooks, Odzookers.

Origin of Gadzooks

1645–55; perhaps representing God's hooks (i.e., the nails of Christ's Cross); cf. Gad

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for gadzooks

Historical Examples of gadzooks

Well, this Mr. Summerfield is a brave Fellow, Gadzooks he is.
The City Bride (1696)
Joseph Harris
Gadzooks, Jenny, will I never get sense or liberality into your head?
The Evil Eye; Or, The Black Spector
William Carleton
The poor fish claps his hand to his forehead and cries 'Gadzooks!
The Adventures of Sally
P. G. Wodehouse
Gadzooks, a most ingenious contrivance—if we were to go through with it.
Love for Love
William Congreve
Gadzooks, neighbors, but I shouldn't be a whit surprised if that old party is a duke in disguise!
The Frontiersmen
Charles Egbert Craddock

British Dictionary definitions for gadzooks

gadzooks

interjection

archaic a mild oath

Word Origin for gadzooks

C17: perhaps from God's hooks (the nails of the cross); see Gad 1

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for gadzooks

1690s, from some exclamation, possibly God's hooks (nails of the cross) or even God's hocks. Cf. godsookers (1670s). The use of Gad for God (cf. egad) is first attested 1590s. Among other similar phraseological combinations (all from 17c.) were gadsbobs, gadslid, and gadsniggers; in all of which the second elements are sometimes said to be mere fanciful syllables.