Word.ws English Dictionary

oh, my stars and garters

oh, my stars and garters interjection: expression of astonishment.

Interjection

  1. Expression of astonishment.

Forms of oh, my stars and garters

alternative formoh my stars and garters

Origin of oh, my stars and garters

Attested (in the figurative sense) since before 1763 (see James Otis' 1763 pamphlet, The Rights of the British Colonies Asserted and Proved: "These representations of us, many of the good people of England swallow with as much ease, as they would a bottle-bubble, or any other story of a cock and a bull; and the worst of it is, among some of the most credulous, have been found Stars and Garters."). For the stars, see oh my stars. The garters refer to a heraldic order (in a stellar shape) that British monarchs could bestow. Together they were used as a name for the trappings of high office or the individuals who occupied such.

Questions about oh, my stars and garters

What does oh, my stars and garters mean?
Oh, my stars and garters means expression of astonishment.
What part of speech is oh, my stars and garters?
Oh, my stars and garters is an interjection.

Words near oh, my stars and garters in the dictionary

  1. oh, gods
  2. oh, I of little faith
  3. oh, me of little faith
  4. oh, my God
  5. oh, my gosh
  6. oh, my stars and garters
  7. oh, snap
  8. oh, someone of little faith
  9. oh, the humanity
  10. oh, well
  11. oh, ye of little faith

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: oh, my stars and garters (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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