Word.ws English Dictionary

a pox on

a pox on interjection: to express curses upon (somebody), when irked or wroth, as though wishing someone "a pox".

Interjection

a pox on

  1. (archaic, offensive) To express curses upon (somebody), when irked or wroth, as though wishing someone "a pox".
    • A pox o' your throat, you bawling, blasphemous, incharitable dog!1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published...
    Synonyms:
    woe betide, fie upon, to hell with
  2. (humorous) To hell with (abstract or unalive things).
    • A pox of that jest! and I beshrew all shrows.c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Loues Labour’s Lost”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
    • […] A pox of drowning thyself!c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac...

Synonyms of a pox on

Origin of a pox on

Originally an expression of abuse to wish that someone develop pocks, that is to say, contract pox. Though pox can range from smallpox to chickenpox to cowpox to syphilis, this expression almost always referred to the last one, the Great Pox.

Questions about a pox on

What does a pox on mean?
A pox on means to express curses upon (somebody), when irked or wroth, as though wishing someone "a pox".
What part of speech is a pox on?
A pox on is an interjection.

Words near a pox on in the dictionary

  1. A Pobra do Caramiñal
  2. A positive
  3. a posteriori
  4. a potiori
  5. a pound to a penny
  6. a pox on
  7. a pox on both your houses
  8. a priori
  9. a priorism
  10. a problem shared is a problem halved
  11. a promise is a promise

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: a pox on (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.

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