Definition of "Godspeed"
Godspeed
interjection
(literary) Used, especially at a parting, to express the wish that the outcome of the actions of a person (typically someone about to start a journey or a daring endeavour) is positive for them.
Quotations
3 [Citizen]. Neighbours, God ſpeed. / 1 [Citizen]. Giue you good morrovv ſir.
c. 1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act II, scene iii], page 184, column 2
At the threshold of death, how dare I give you permission to go to England, to cross the seas? But I will not stand in your way. It is your mother's permission which really matters. If she permit you, then godspeed! Tell her I will not interfere. You will go with my blessings.
1927, M[ohandas] K[aramchand] Gandhi, “Preparation for England”, in Mahadev Desai, transl., The Story of My Experiments with Truth: Translated from the Original in Gujarati, volume I, Ahmedabad, Gujarat: Navajivan Press, part I, page 95
So all of America watched at 9:47 a.m. on Feb. 20, 1962, as [John] Glenn took off from Cape Canaveral. Scott Carpenter, backup astronaut for the mission, famously said: "Godspeed, John Glenn."
1962 February 20, Scott Carpenter, quotee, “Godspeed, John Glenn”, in USA Today, McLean, Va.: Gannett Co., published 8 December 2016, archived from the original on 2021-07-09
noun
countable and uncountable, plural Godspeeds
(uncountable) The wishing of someone a smooth journey, or success, especially at a parting; (countable) a statement expressing this.
Quotations
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.
1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], 2 John:[10–11], folio ccc, recto
Then Chriſtian took his leave of his Friend, and he again bid him God ſpeed.
1678, John Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress from This World, to That which is to Come: […], London: […] Nath[aniel] Ponder […]; reprinted in The Pilgrim’s Progress (The Noel Douglas Replicas), London: Noel Douglas, […], 1928, page 18
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.
1848, Acton Bell [pseudonym; Anne Brontë], “The Warnings of Experience”, in The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. […], volume I, London: T[homas] C[autley] Newby, […], page 279
[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.
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, page 28
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.
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., page 210, column 1
(countable, figuratively)
(archaic) 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.
Quotations
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: […]
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 […], page 247
(originally Ireland) In back of Godspeed: a distant, remote, or unknown place.
Quotations
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?
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, Act, page 278