Godspeed
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˌɡɒdˈspiːd/
ipa: /ˌɡɑdˈspid/
rhymes: -iːd
Forms: form: Godspeeds
form: God-speed
form: God speed
form: godspeed
form: good speed
Etymology: From Middle English God spede, short for God spede þe, God spede yow, etc., from God + spede, singular subjunctive form of speden (“to help, further, cause to prosper”), equivalent to God + speed. Compare God bless, God damn.
Senses: examples: text: Yff there come eny vnto you and brynge not this learnynge⸝ hym receave not to houſſe: nether bid hym god ſpede. For he that biddeth hym God ſpede⸝ is part taker off his evyll dedes.
ref: 1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, 2 John:[10–11], folio ccc, recto:
text: Then Chriſtian took his leave of his Friend, and he again bid him God ſpeed.
ref: 1678, John Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress from This World, to That which is to Come: […], London: […] Nath[aniel] Ponder […], →OCLC, page 18:
text: Ber[inthia]. Speed her vvell. / VVor[thy]. Ay, but there muſt be more than a God ſpeed, or your Charity vvon't be vvorth a farthing.
ref: 1696 November (first performance), [John Vanbrugh], The Relapse; or, Virtue in Danger: […], [London]: […] Samuel Briscoe […], published 1697, →OCLC, Act V, scene ii, page 90:
text: He never danced himself, and there he sat, poking his head in my face, and impressing all the beholders with the idea that he was a confirmed, acknowledged lover; my aunt looking complacently on, all the time, and wishing him God-speed.
ref: 1848, Acton Bell [pseudonym; Anne Brontë], “The Warnings of Experience”, in The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. […], volume I, London: T[homas] C[autley] Newby, […], →OCLC, page 279:
text: [I]n the morning, as Rowland at the garden gate was giving his hostess Godspeed on her way to church, he came striding along the grassy margin of the road and out-whistling the music of the church bells.
ref: 1875 January–December, Henry James, Jr., “Rowland”, in Roderick Hudson, Boston, Mass.: James R[ipley] Osgood and Company, late Ticknor & Fields, and Fields, Osgood, & Co., published 1876, →OCLC, page 28:
text: Mr. C[harles] C[rozat] Converse's new pronoun [thon] of the singular number and common gender has met with a warm welcome from philologists and the press. […] The new word has received a number of godspeeds, some of which we quote.
ref: 1884 November 1, “Thon”, in J[eanette] L[eonard], J[oseph] B[enson] Gilder, editors, The Critic: A Literary Weekly, Critical and Eclectic, volume II, number 44, New York, N.Y.: The Good Literature Publishing Co., →OCLC, page 210, column 1:
text: Eight years before he had seen his friend off at the North Wall and wished him godspeed.
ref: 1904–1907 (date written), James Joyce, “A Little Cloud”, in Dubliners, London: Grant Richards, published June 1914, →OCLC, page 84:
glosses: The wishing of someone a smooth journey, or success, especially at a parting; (countable) a statement expressing this.
examples: text: But a Devil came in juſt in the God-ſpeed, and told them; Gentlemen Philoſophers, (ſays he) if you vvould knovv the VVretched'ſt, and moſt contemptible thing in the VVorld; It is an Alchymiſt: […]
ref: 1667, Francisco de Quevedo Villegas, “The Sixth Vision of Hell”, in R[oger] L[’Estrange], transl., The Visions of Dom Francisco de Quevedo Villegas, […], London: […] H[enry] Herringman […], →OCLC, page 247:
text: But juſt in the Godſpeed, the Plot vvas Diſcover'd.
ref: 1688, Roger L’Estrange, “Bedloe and Prance Swore to the Plot as well as to the Murther”, in A Brief History of the Times, &c. Part III. Treating of the Death of Sir E[dmund] B[erry] Godfrey, London: […] R. Sare, […], →OCLC, part I, page 19:
text: I udn't mind seeing her come in when I was in the godspeed of washday, and that's saying something.
ref: 1941, Flora Thompson, “‘A Bit of a Tell’”, in Lark Rise to Candleford: A Trilogy, London: Penguin Books, published 1945 (1973 printing), →ISBN, page 291:
glosses: Chiefly in in the Godspeed of: the most important part of something, or point at which something happens; also, the last minute or last moment.
examples: text: If I don't leave you at the back of God-speed before long, I'll give you the mare and the horse too.
ref: 1858, Anthony Trollope, “Frank Gresham’s First Speech”, in Doctor Thorne. […], volume I, London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC, page 124:
text: mrs george. I have earned the right to speak. I have dared: I have gone through: I have not fallen withered into the fire: I have come at last out beyond, to the back of Godspeed. / the bishop. And what do you see there, at the back of Godspeed?
ref: 1908 (date written), [George] Bernard Shaw, “Getting Married”, in The Doctor’s Dilemma, Getting Married, & The Shewing-Up of Blanco Posnet, London: Constable and Company, published 1911, →OCLC, page 278:
synonyms: back of beyond
glosses: In back of Godspeed: a distant, remote, or unknown place.