A sort of abbreviative censorship (minced oath) of "God's wounds", a phrase used in cursing in shakespearean times.
It is to that phrase as "darn" is to "damn", or "fudge" to "fuck".
It is to that phrase as "darn" is to "damn", or "fudge" to "fuck".
"'Swounds, I should take it, for it cannot be but I am pidgeon-liver'd and lack gall to make oppression bitter, or ere this I should ha' fatted all the region kites with this slave's offal." -Hamlet, Act II, scene 2, lines 580-584
by Almacov October 25, 2006