subs. (old).—The penis. Italian cazzo. For synonyms, see CREAMSTICK and PRICK.
Intj. (old: still literary and colloquial).—An interjection. [A relic of phallicism with which many popular oaths and exclamations have a direct connection, especially in Neo-Latin dialects. A Spaniard cries out, CARAJO! (= the member), or COJONES! (= the testicles); an Italian says CAZZO (the penis); while a Frenchman exclaims by the act itself, FOUTRE! The female equivalent, (COÑO with the Spaniard, CONNO with the Italian, CON with the Frenchman, and CUNT with ourselves), was, and is, more generally used as an expression of contempt, which is also the case with the testicles. (Cf., ante, ALL BALLS!) Germanic oaths are profane rather than obscene; except, perhaps, in POTZ! and POTZTAUFEND! and the English equivalent POX! which last is obsolete. See CATSO. [In FLORIO (A Worlde of Wordes, 1598), Cazzo = ‘a man’s privie member,’ and cazzo di mare = a pintle fish; while cazzica = ‘an interjection of admiration and affirming. What? Gad’s me, Gad forfend, tush.’]
1697. VANBRUGH, The Provoked Wife, iii., 1. Sir J. GADSO! we are to consult about playing the devil to-night.
1770. FOOTE, The Lame Lover, i. GADSO! a little unlucky.
1838. DICKENS, Oliver Twist, ch. iv. ‘GADSO!’ said the undertaker … ‘that’s just the very thing I wanted to speak to you about.’
