Zounds definition

Abbreviation of God's wounds, with reference to Christ's wounds before the crucifixion. Compare strewth, blimey, gadzooks, 'sblood.

'Zounds, a dog, a rat, a mouse, a cat, to scratch a man to death! — Shakespeare, "Romeo and Juliet", 1597
Bounds, mounds, lounds, founds, kounds, downds, rounds, pounds, zounds! — hounds — ha! hounds — I have it. — R.M. Ballantyne, "The Floating Light of the Goodwin Sands", 1870
"Zounds!" he exclaimed. "What the dickens is that?" — J.C. Hutcheson, "Bob Strong's Holidays", 1900