'swounds

American

[zwoundz, zoundz, zwoondz] / zwaʊndz, zaʊndz, zwundz /

interjection

Obsolete.

zounds.

swounds British

/ zwaʊndz, zaʊndz /

interjection

archaic less common spellings of zounds

"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

Etymology

Origin of 'swounds

First recorded in 1580–90; 's ³ + wound ¹ + -s ³

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Over streams and fallen trees, and chinquepin ridges; through bogs and myrtle thickets and miles of grape vines—swounds! but it was hot work!

From Project Gutenberg

No kindly angel whispered to her that she should go in, now, for "swounds and vapours," and thus bolster up the protectiveness that had come to birth within him that night.

From Project Gutenberg

She knew nothing of "swounds and vapours."

From Project Gutenberg

"I suppose that's what you've been expecting me to do—faint all over the place—swounds and vapours," she said, laughing faintly.

From Project Gutenberg

He swounds, fetch him some Cordiall—Now put in Sir.

From Project Gutenberg

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023