Word.ws English Dictionary

by Jove

by Jove interjection: invocation of the Roman god Jupiter.

Interjection

  1. (obsolete, Classics) Invocation of the Roman god Jupiter.
    • By Jove, master marchant, by sea or by land / Would get but smale argent if I did not stand / His very good master, I may say to you, / When he hazards in hope what hap will insue.1575, “Apius and Virginia”, in Isaac Reed, Octavius Gilchrist, editors, A Select Collection of Old Plays, London: Septimus Prowett, published 1826, page 353
    • By Joves help I'l^([sic]) be there.a. 1639, John Webster, Appius and Virginia, London: printed for Humphrey Moseley, published 1659, act 3, scene 1, page 38
  2. (British, dated) minced oath for by God, Jove referring to Jupiter.
    • By Jove, I always took three threes for nine.1623, William Shakespeare, Love's Labour's Lost, act V, scene II
    • Favours, by Jove that thunders! What art thou, fellow?1623, William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of Antony and Cleopatra, act III, scene XIII
    Synonyms:
    wow

Examples of by Jove in a sentence

  • "I was sorry to fire my rifle, but, by Jove! there was no great choice." "We should not be here if you hadn't," said I, with conviction.1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC:
  • Well, I wasn't going to have any of that sort of thing, by Jove!1916, P. G. Wodehouse, “Jeeves Takes Charge”, in A Wodehouse Miscellany:

Synonyms of by Jove

Origin of by Jove

From Latin pro Iovem. Ellipsis of a full oath of the form "I swear by Jove that…" Originally a literal oath; later a minced oath.

Questions about by Jove

What does by Jove mean?
By Jove means invocation of the Roman god Jupiter.
How do you use by Jove in a sentence?
"I was sorry to fire my rifle, but, by Jove! there was no great choice." "We should not be here if you hadn't," said I, with conviction.
What part of speech is by Jove?
By Jove is an interjection.

Words near by Jove in the dictionary

  1. by jabers
  2. by Jesus
  3. by jiminy
  4. by jingo
  5. by jings
  6. by Jove
  7. by juckies
  8. by Jupiter
  9. by leaps and starts
  10. by left
  11. by little and little

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: by Jove (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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