English

Alternative forms

• for land's sake / for land's sake alive / for land's sakes / for land's sakes alive
• for the land's sake / for the land's sake alive / for the land's sakes / for the land's sakes alive
• land sake / land sake alive / land sakes alive
• land's sake / land's sake alive / land's sakes / land's sakes alive

Interjection

land sakes

1. (chiefly US, somewhat dated and rustic) An expression of surprise or dismay.
   • 1886, Horatio Alger, Helping Himself, ch. 28:

     "Land sakes! I don't keep a boardin' house!"

   • 1912, Victor Appleton, Lulu, Alice and Jimmie Wibblewobble, ch. 31:

     Well, as soon as Alice finished singing, land sakes! goodness, gracious me! if a big fox didn't pop out from behind a tree.

   • 1983 June 19, Philip Shenon, "For Homesick Mississippians, a Day Full of Grits and Grins," New York Times (retrieved 3 Nov 2015):

     The fourth annual “Way Up North in Mississippi” picnic was well under way in Central Park yesterday. . . . There were twangy cries of “land sakes” and “don't that beat all” and choruses of “hi, y'all.”

   • 2015, Lori Copeland, My Heart Stood Still, ISBN 9780736961684, p. 41 (Google preview):

     “One of the McDougal young'uns? Well, land sakes—haven't seen you in a coon's age.”

Synonyms

• sakes, sakes alive