Word.ws English Dictionary

God save the mark

God save the mark interjection: ironic expression of distaste for someone.

Interjection

  1. (archaic) Ironic expression of distaste for someone.
    • […] for he made me mad
      To see him shine so brisk and smell so sweet
      And talk so like a waiting-gentlewoman
      Of guns and drums and wounds,—God save the mark!—
      And telling me the sovereign'st thing on earthc. 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...
    • […]the gnawing pain, the sick faintness, the deadly stupor, the insatiable animal craving for mere food, all of which sensations are frightful enough to those who are, unhappily, daily inured to them, but which when they afflict one who has been tenderly reared and brought up to consider himself a...1895, Marie Corelli, The Sorrows of Satan: or The Strange Experience of One Geoffrey Tempest, Millionaire […], 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: J[oshua] B[allinger] Lippincott Company, published...

Forms of God save the mark

alternative formGod bless the mark

Origin of God save the mark

Plausibly originally a reference to the mark that a swindler fools: the swindler comments on how dull-witted the mark is and expresses a sentiment that is somewhat like God love them (God bless them, God help them) but carries the flavor of (1) may the Lord save them, because I and other sharpsters sure won't, and (2) thank God for suckers and for the fact that there's one born every minute.

Words that rhyme with God save the mark

28 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about God save the mark

What does God save the mark mean?
God save the mark means ironic expression of distaste for someone.
What part of speech is God save the mark?
God save the mark is an interjection.

Words near God save the mark in the dictionary

  1. God rest his soul
  2. God rest their soul
  3. God rest their souls
  4. god roll
  5. God Save the King
  6. God save the mark
  7. God Save the Queen
  8. God Shave the Queen
  9. God slot
  10. God slots
  11. God speed

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: God save the mark (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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