forfend
verbUK /fɔːˈfɛnd/ · US /fɔɹˈfɛnd/
Etymology From Middle English forfenden (“to ward off, protect, prohibit”), equivalent to for- + fend.
1
Archaic To prohibit; to forbid; to avert.
- Clown: … You would know where Lord Anthonie is? I perceiue you. Shall I ſay he is in yond farme houſe? I deceiue you. Shall I tell you this wine is for him? the gods forfend, and ſo I end. Go fellow fighters theres a bob for ye.1594, Thomas Lodge, The Wounds of Civil War, act 4, scene 1, page 54:
- 2008, Lew, short circuit operators, zbadnYZNaK6VM1zanZ2dnUVZ_r7inZ2d@comcast.com What? Multi-posting? Usenet Gods forfend!
1 more example
- People have long given thought to the causes of danger and how they might be forfended.2018, Steven Pinker, Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress, page 271:
- Derived terms
- God forfend