Word of the Month

Occasionally I am reminded of the really cool words that exist but aren't heard very often. I now find it is my mission to help everyone recapture these lost beauties for the benefit of all. I’d like to start with a particular favorite of mine: egad.

Here’s what the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) has to say:

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Also igad, egod. [prob. representing earlier A God! from a interjection: but in later times perhaps associated with asseverations, like i’faith, or possibly with by God.]

Used as a softened oath.

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The kind folks at the OED have even added this convenient and helpful timeline to illustrate when egad was in usage amongst the commoners.

Here are some egad samplings to enjoy at your leisure.

1673 [R. Leigh] Transp. Reh. 4. Which is very civil I gad.
1751 Smollett Per. Pic. (1779) III. lxxxv. 323 An exclamation of ‘Humbugged egad!’
1791 ‘G. Gambado’ Ann. Horsem. xviii. (1809) 140 Egod, off we set, and never stopt till I got to the bottom.
1823 Byron Island II.xxi, Egad! she seem’d a wicked-looking craft.
1868-9 M. E. Braddon Charlotte’s Inher. IV.ii 93 Yes, egad, and such a fortune as few girls drop into now-a-days.

So there you have it - all you wanted to know about egad and more.