bodkin

antiquated A minced oath for "God's body," expressing surprise, shock, or astonishment. Odds bodkins, the bill for dinner is nearly $200!

obsolete To be squeezed tightly between two people while traveling, especially in a carriage. Pressed for time ahead of his appointment, the Duke was rather unceremoniously obliged to ride bodkin between the two daughters of his host.

obsolete To be squeezed tightly between two people while traveling, especially in a carriage. Pressed for time ahead of his appointment, the Duke was rather unceremoniously obliged to sit bodkin between the two daughters of his host.

An archaic interjection meaning “God's body.” In an era where people respected the Ten Commandments a lot more than we do today, the injuncTion against taking the name of the Lord in vain led to a variety of euphemisms. One involved using the word “bodkins,” the tools that shoemakers and other leatherworkers use to pierce holes, for “body.” The most convincing explanation is that “bodkins” sounds a lot like “body,” but there's no explanation for the plural. Therefore, when a cobbler hit his thumb while resoling a shoe, he was likely to wince and exclaim, “Odd's bodkins,” if not something worse. Henry Fielding was the first author to use the phrase in close to its present form in his Don Quixote in England: “Odsbodlikins . . . you have a strange sort of a taste.” Similar oaths that avoided naming the diety used “'s” as an abbreviation of “God's,” such as “s'wounds,” “s'blood,” and “s'truth.” However, it's unlikely that Ira Gershwin had that in mind when he wrote the lyrics to “S'Wonderful.”