Word.ws English Dictionary

by George

by George adverb: by God! Expressing wonderment or zeal.

Adverb

by George (not comparable)

  1. (minced oath) By God! Expressing wonderment or zeal.
    • Heaven knows, I cannot find it in my heart to blame you, but this much I will say, be it kind or unkind: when Captain Smollett was well, you dared not have gone off; and when he was ill and couldn’t help it, by George, it was downright cowardly!1881–1882, Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island, London; Paris: Cassell & Company, published 14 November 1883, →OCLC
    • "Look at Clive - just a clerk, and he conquered India! By George! I'll do something in the world yet!" She laughed at my sudden Irish effervescence.1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC
    Synonyms:
    wow

Synonyms of by George

Origin of by George

"By (God and Saint) George" is an old English oath invoked immediately before charging into battle as late as World War I. Versions of this oath can be found in several of William Shakespeare's plays: including: *Henry VI, Part 1 (written circa 1591 and set in 1431): **"God and Saint George, Talbot and England's right, Prosper our colours in this dangerous fight!" **"Saint George and victory! Fight, soldiers, fight!" *Henry VI, Part 3 (written circa 1591 and set 1460 to 1471): **"Then strike up drums; God and Saint George for us!"; **"For Warwick and his friends, God and Saint George!" **"Lords, to the field; Saint George and victory!" * Richard III: "God and Saint George! Richmond and victory!" * Henry V: "Follow your spirit, and upon this charge Cry 'God for Harry, England, and Saint George!'"

Questions about by George

What does by George mean?
By George means by God! Expressing wonderment or zeal.
What part of speech is by George?
By George is an adverb.

Words near by George in the dictionary

  1. by foot
  2. by gad
  3. by gannies
  4. by gar
  5. by Gemini
  6. by George
  7. by ginger
  8. by God
  9. by God's teeth
  10. by gods
  11. by golly

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: by George (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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