'sblood
/zblʌd/
'sblood interjection: an exclamation formerly used as an oath, and an expression of anger or wonder.
Interjection
- An exclamation formerly used as an oath, and an expression of anger or wonder.
- 'Sblood, I would my face were in your belly.c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
- "'Sblood, do you think I am easier to be played on than a pipe?"c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac...
Origin of 'sblood
Minced form of God's blood. Primarily from the Middle Ages up to the early modern era, and to a rare extent today, people would curse on God's or Christ's body parts rather than breaking the Second Commandment (not to use the Lord's name in vain oaths). In this case, the exclamation refers to Christ's blood shed during the crucifixion, and the Eucharist in the form of wine.
Words that rhyme with 'sblood
Questions about 'sblood
- What does 'sblood mean?
- 'sblood means an exclamation formerly used as an oath, and an expression of anger or wonder.
- What part of speech is 'sblood?
- 'sblood is an interjection.
- How do you pronounce 'sblood?
- 'sblood is pronounced /zblʌd/.
Words near 'sblood in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: 'sblood (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-'sblood.wav.
Cite this entry: “'sblood.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/%27sblood. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.