int. Also 7 igad, 8 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: cf. AGAD, ADAD, ADOD, ECOD, etc.] Used as a softened oath.
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. Miss Braddon, Charlotte’s Inher., IV. ii. 93. Yes, egad, and such a fortune as few girls drop into now-a-days.
