Word.ws English Dictionary

by the rood

by the rood prepositional phrase: used as an oath to emphasize the veracity of an associated statement; equivalent to "I swear on Christ's cross.".

Prepositional phrase

  1. (archaic) Used as an oath to emphasize the veracity of an associated statement; equivalent to "I swear on Christ's cross."
    • Sim[on]. I pray thee tell me now, coulde such a shrow as thou,
      Content thy selfe with such a sheepe as I, how sayst thou now?
      Sus[an]. A sheepe, nay by the Roode, I rather would haue guest
      you, more a Hog like, then a sheepe […]1577, Nicholas Breton, The Workes of a Young Wyt, London: Thomas Dawson and Thomas Gardyner
    • Gertrude. Have you forgot me?
      Hamlet. No, by the rood, not so!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...

Questions about by the rood

What does by the rood mean?
By the rood means used as an oath to emphasize the veracity of an associated statement; equivalent to "I swear on Christ's cross.".
What part of speech is by the rood?
By the rood is a prepositional phrase.

Words near by the rood in the dictionary

  1. by the minute
  2. by the moment
  3. by the name of
  4. by the numbers
  5. by the piece
  6. by the rood
  7. by the same token
  8. by the score
  9. by the skin of one's teeth
  10. by the sly
  11. by the sound of it

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: by the rood (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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Cite this entry: “by the rood.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/by_the_rood. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.