Word.ws English Dictionary

I wish I may be shot

I wish I may be shot phrase: a form of mild swearing used to emphasize the truth of an assertion; accompanied by if and the opposite of the assertion.

Phrase

I wish I may be shot

  1. (archaic, colloquial) A form of mild swearing used to emphasize the truth of an assertion; accompanied by if and the opposite of the assertion.
    • It's a joke — if it isn't, I wish I may be shot.1842, William Harrison Ainsworth, Ainsworth's Magazine, page 90

Forms of I wish I may be shot

alternative formI hope I may be shot

Questions about I wish I may be shot

What does I wish I may be shot mean?
I wish I may be shot means a form of mild swearing used to emphasize the truth of an assertion; accompanied by if and the opposite of the assertion.
What part of speech is I wish I may be shot?
I wish I may be shot is a phrase.

Words near I wish I may be shot in the dictionary

  1. I want to speak to the manager haircuts
  2. I was born in ...
  3. I will yeah
  4. I wis
  5. I wish
  6. I wish I may be shot
  7. I wiss
  8. I would
  9. I would rather die
  10. I wouldn't piss on someone if they were on fire
  11. I Zingari

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: I wish I may be shot (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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