by Jove


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by Jove

An exclamation of surprise or praise. You studied hard, and, by Jove, you got an A! Isn't it funny how that works? By Jove, we've solved the mystery!
See also: by, Jove
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2015 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.

by Jove

Also, by cracky. Used to express surprise or emphasis. For example, By Jove, I was glad to see her, or It was a great day, by cracky. These mild oaths are euphemisms, the first for "by Jesus" or "by God" (Jove is another name for Jupiter, the principal Roman god), and the folksy variant by cracky for "by Christ." Both idioms may be dying out.
See also: by, Jove
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

by Jove

Used as a mild oath to express surprise or emphasis.
See also: by, Jove
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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References in periodicals archive ?
Films by Jove owner Jane Borsten conducted a country by country search in 1992 - during which she called "every broadcaster on the planet" - and discovered that "SEF flagrantly ignored contracts, sold whatever it could to whoever was gullible enough to think he had any rights and pocketed the money."
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The title of a mystery novel from the famous Le Masque collection insistently appears and reappears in all these works: Le Peintre a disparu (The painter has disappeared) by Frank King, and in the series "By Jove" it is accompanied by a novel from the same collection, Le Peintre Fantome (The phantom painter) by Jean Le Gac.
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She's spent the last seven weeks under that corset, wig and gown perfecting the flower girl turned society girl look and as 'Enry 'Iggins 'imself might say: By jove, we think she's got it!
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In Bruno's dialogue Poverty had not been awarded a place in the heavens, but nevertheless she had been praised handsomely by Jove as a friend of all those who are content to follow the laws and ways of nature, leaving the ambitious to the "poverty" of riches.
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Hang on, if we tweak his right nipple and rotate his left, by jove, I think we've got it.
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It is all too ridiculous for words but, by jove, you can't help laughing.
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