A minced oath standing in for 'Lord' — a softened exclamation used to express surprise, dismay, or exasperation without technically taking the Lord's name in vain. Common in older American rural speech. It also carries a street slang sense in some US communities where 'the laws' simply means the police — the long arm of the law personified into a single word. Two very different vibes, same spelling.
Laws, I haven't seen you in twenty years — you haven't aged a day!
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(US, slang, street slang, uncommon) The police.
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(possibly, dated) A minced oath for Lord.
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Regional slang from around the English-speaking world — British, Australian, Irish, Caribbean, Nigerian, Filipino, AAVE, and the hyphenated-English dialects that make the internet sound local.
See all Regional & Other slang on Slangora.