An archaic mild oath or exclamation expressing surprise, annoyance, or emphasis, common in old English literature and theater.
A euphemistic corruption or softening of 'God's hooks,' referring to the nails (hooks) of Christ's crucifixion, used as a minced oath. This pattern of disguising religious oaths into acceptable exclamations was common in Early Modern English (1500s-1700s).
Playwriters like Shakespeare's contemporaries packed their scripts with adzooks and similar minced oaths like 'zounds' (God's wounds) and ''sdeath' (God's death) because audiences loved the wordplay, and it let them invoke God without technically blaspheming—a clever way around religious censorship.
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