dash v.1
1. a general euph. for damn v., used in excls. and oaths.
![[UK]](/static/img/flags/uk.png "United Kingdom") | Walsingham IV 277: Dash me, my hearty, but here I am again. | |
![[US]](/static/img/flags/us.png "United States") | Forest Rose I i: bel.: (Aside.) I must speak to her, and dash the native. | |
| Satirist (London) 4 Nov. 358/2: For I’m sure that in charging—his glass, dash my wig! / There is not a man like a trooper. | |
| Kentuckian in N.Y. I 67: Dash me if it wasn’t tail all the way to the collar. | |
| Alton Locke (1850) 44: Gunpowder is your true leveller – dash physical strength. | |
| Young Tom Hall (1926) 70: Dash my sabretache if there’s tuppence to choose atween ’em! | |
| Broad Arrow Jack 22: Oh, blow your weakness! dash your helplessness, and jigger your happetite! | |
| Unsentimental Journeys 141: These precious boots [...] I can’t get ’em on. I’ve been trying this half hour. Dash the boots! | |
| Won in a Canter I 98: ‘[I]f Mr. Fortescue rides him patiently, dash my waistcoat buttons if I think the mare will have a chance with him’. | |
| Gabriel Conroy III 175: Dash it all! what in dash are you dashingly doing here, dash you? | |
| Daily Gaz. for Middlesborough 25 June 3/3: ‘Why, dash my eyes, Billy,’ he says swearing. | |
![[Aus]](/static/img/flags/aus.png "Australia") | Bulletin (Sydney) 25 Apr. 5/4: Will take 20 days to read the poem you dashed off in 20 minutes. Dash your dashed poetry. | |
| Police Sergeant C 21 153: Dash me! of course. | |
| ‘The Captain of the Push’ in Roderick (1967–9) I 188: And the language that he mounted I should scarcely like to tell, / (Stars! and notes of exclamation!! blank and dash will do as well). | |
| [perf. Marie Lloyd] Everything in the Garden’s Lovely 🎵 ‘On my life / Dash it all its my own wife’. | |
| Pitcher in Paradise 119: ‘Pull up, dash you!’ he shouted as the horseman swept by. | |
| ‘A Few Remarks on Bill & Jim’ in Roderick (1972) 717: Dash the War for the present! | |
![[Scot]](/static/img/flags/sco.png "Scotland") | Dundee Eve. Teleg. 8 Oct. 7/3: Dash! I’ve forgotten to bring my fountain pen. | |
| Mad mag. July 15: Dash-blast the gosh darned blankety heck! | |
| What They Was 9: Dash dat man, fuck dat he says. |
2. as past participle of sense 1; usu. as I’m dashed if... or I’ll be dashed...
| Blackwood’s Edinburgh Mag. May 540/1: I’ll be dashed if I gan another step for less ’an oaf . | |
| Ravenswing (1887) 73: I’m dashed if she ain’t taken the little French clock, too. | |
| Ask Mamma 18: Dashed if he wouldn’t give a fifty-pun for a kiss! | |
| York Herald 28 Apr. 3/5: Dashed if i can enjoy my pipe. | |
| Peck’s Bad Boy and His Pa (1887) 41: ‘Religion be dashed,’ says Pa. | |
| Bulletin (Sydney) 26 July 10/1: ‘Look here,’ said the new editor of the Sydney Daily Telegraph to one of his staff, ‘since the cable parted I’m dashed if I know what to fill up with.’. | |
| Liza of Lambeth (1966) 29: Well, I’m dashed! | |
| Sporting Times 4 Feb. 1/4: Dashed if you didn’t offer me the same ruddy sum for thirty days for a score in last November? | |
| ‘Extricating Young Gussie’ in Man with Two Left Feet 25: I’m dashed if I didn’t suddenly catch sight of the old lad. | |
| Right Ho, Jeeves 5: Well, I’m dashed. I’m really dashed. I positively am dashed, Jeeves. | |
| Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit 9: I was dashed if I was going to have him muscling in. | |
| World of Paul Slickey Act II: Well, I’m dashed if I really know what this is all about. | |
| letter Sept. in Leader (2000) 686: I was dashed to find no reference to me in it. | |
| Much Obliged, Jeeves 63: I was dashed if I was going to be intimidated by Jeeves. | |
| Indep. Information 4–10 Sept. 24: Dad’s taking a bath with Sis, and dashed if Brother knows what to do about it. |
In exclamations
a general euph. excl.
| Pettyfogger Dramatized I ii: Dash it, Master! | |
| Speed the Plough II ii: But dash it, Lady Nelly, what do make thee paint thy vace all over wi’ rud ochre zoo? | |
| Haunted Inn II iii: There’s the pig-jobbers again, and, dash it, a fellow staring at Jenny like a cod-fish. | |
| Comic Almanack Feb. 213: But, dash it, it’s my own house. | |
| Carlisle Patriot 27 Apr. 4/5: ‘Dash my buttons!’ I sez to myself. | |
| Lewisburg Chron. (PA) 30 Apr. 1/4: My chop. Hello! What’s this? Bacon again? Oh, pooh! zounds — compound it — dash it —hang it — I can’t stand this! | |
| Bleak House (1991) 405: Now — I — dash it! — The fact is, that I put down a head or two here of the order of the points I thought of touching upon. | |
| Broad Arrow Jack 9: ‘Oh! dash it — come, you know,’ expostulated Wobbles. | |
| In Strange Company 206: ‘Dash it all!’ said the Deputy. | |
 | ‘My Wife’s Relations’ in Comic Songs 12: I said – Dash it! | |
| Tag, Rag & Co. 165: ‘Dash it all,’ murmured the greengrocer. | |
| Robbery Under Arms (1922) 376: Dash it, boy, what are y waitin’ for? | |
| ‘Meeting Old Mates’ in Roderick (1972) 166: Oh, dash it; you ain’t going yet. | |
| No. 5 John Street 148: Dash it all, you’re as bad as that chap from New York who came over ‘just to buy a toothpick’. | |
| Boys Of The Empire 11 Dec. 151: Dash it, how it tingles! | |
| Lord Jim 53: Presently, lolling at ease, he said, ‘Dash it all! I tell you it bulged!’. | |
| Eve. Star (Wash., DC) 12 Nov. 43/2: ‘Oh, dash it all!’ broke in Warren. | |
| Marvel 15 Oct. 1: Dash it all! | |
| Perry Co. Times (New Blomfield, PA) 10 Oct. 3/2: ‘Well — oh, dash it [...] No, dash it, I wasn’t going to say a jolly word’. | |
| Mufti 50: Dash it, Margaret, there was a distinct flavour of the pre-war about you last night. | |
![[Ire]](/static/img/flags/ire.png "Ireland") | Ulysses 432: Dash it all. It’s a way we gallants have in the navy. | |
| Inimitable Jeeves 26: Dash it, a man must call his soul his own. | |
| Final Count 842: Dash it all — that’s a nuisance. | |
| Redheap (1965) 68: ‘But dash it, I couldn’t stop the girl sitting next to me’ . | |
| Nine Tailors (1984) 27: ‘Dash it all!’ said Wimsey. | |
| Rover 13 Jan. 40: Dash it, I think it’s scandalous. | |
| Otterbury Incident 65: Dash it all, we got that bob for you. | |
| Mating Season 94: It’s no good saying, ‘But, dash it!’. | |
| Jennings Goes To School 227: Dash it, it’s deceitful. | |
| Vision Splendid 315: Dash it all, I’ve done as much cattle work and have a better knowledge. | |
| Jeeves in the Offing 25: ‘Dash it,’ I said with some warmth. | |
![[NZ]](/static/img/flags/nz.png "New Zealand") | ‘Gods Live in the Woods’ in Coll. Stories (1965) 229: But dash it all uncle Henry, remember I was only a kid then. | |
| Much Obliged, Jeeves 4: And here, dash it, I must once more ask the old sweats to let their attention wander while I put the new arrivals abreast. | |
| Guardian Rev. 24 July 11: Dash it! The blighter isn’t a real hack. | |
| Guardian G2 18 May 3: And – dash it all – a woman to boot. |
a mild oath.
| Walsingham IV 277: They have taken possession of Honaover-square; and, dash my sconce, if all is not gone to the hammer. | |
| Sporting Mag. Nov. XIX 91/1: ‘Dash my buttons, as you’re a good fellow, you shall have my old shoes!’. | |
| Man o’ War’s Man (1843) 119: ‘Dash my buttons!’ cried a young stout fellow. | |
| ‘The Trap Door’ Icky-Wickey Songster 46: ‘Dash my buttons,’ he cried. | |
| (con. 1703) Jack Sheppard (1840) 55: You may try, but dash my timbers if you’ll ever cross the Thames to-night! | |
| Handley Cross (1854) 152: Dash my buttons, findin’ a fox and killin’ on ’im are werry different things. | |
| Ask Mamma 270: Dash my buttons, Monsieur, but I think I see you sailing away. | |
| Inverness Courier 16 Feb. 6/3: ‘Dash my skin if I can stand beggary’. | |
| Facey Romford’s Hounds 319: Dash my buttons, here they come! | |
| Dly Ohio Statesman 13 June 1/3: If thou wilt only put me on the other side of this stream, dash my buttons if I’ll bother again. | |
| Sl. Dict. 140: Dash an ejaculation, as ‘DASH my wig!’ ‘DASH my buttons!’ A relic of the attempts made, when cursing was fashionable, to be in the mode without used ‘bad words’. | |
| Sporting Times (London) 15 Feb. 3/2: ‘It’s your treat this time, dash my old crabshells if it ain’t’. | |
| Treasure Island 66: But dash my buttons! that was a good ’un. | |
| Ally Sloper’s Half Holiday 24 May 25/3: Dash my buttons (if you will kindly excuse the violence of my language). | |
| Chariton Courier (Keytesville, MO) 10 Apr. 6/6: Durn my buttons but they did. | |
| Dly Public Ledger (Maysville, KY) 8 Apr. 1/2: Rats! Geemonetty! Dash my buttons! | |
| Indiana Progress (PA) 16 Jan. 3/1: ‘Dash my skin, if I ever he’rd of a tide risin’ a thousan’ feet’. | |
| Bulletin (Sydney) 24 Mar. 31/1: ‘Dash my buttons! [...] if I don’t believe this is the old girl herself coming off!’. | |
| Sporting Times 4 Mar. 7/5: Dash my rags! I must ha’ been blind yesterday! I’ve paid my blooming tailor! | |
| Hull Dly Mail 13 Mar. 4/3: ‘Well! Well!’ ‘Did you ever!’ ‘Dash my buttons!’. | |
| Bulletin (Sydney) 12 Sept. 51/2: ‘Dash my skin, where have my glasses gone?’. | |
| Wash Tubbs [comic strip] I can’t understand it, dash my buttons, I can’t. |
a mild oath.
| Bell’s Life in London 5 May 4/1: But, dash my rags, if here arn’t some of the Royal Family! | |
| Nottingham Guardian 23 Mar. 8/1: Dash my rags, Jimmie, it bangs me a’ togidder. | |
| Cheshire Obs. 1 July 3/1: But dash my rags if I can [etc]. | |
| Bulletin (Sydney) 23 Nov. Red Page/1: ‘So help me cat! do you think I don’t know that? I saw you runnin’, and I thought how splendid I could cut you off; and then I thought, ’Oh, dash me rags! I’ll let them get home and change their togs.’’. | |
| Western Dly Press 1 July 11/1: ‘Well, dash my rags,’ said Jim. |
a mild oath.
| Walsingham IV 278: Dish my wig, but there are at least a dozen putting in their claims for a share of the booty. [Ibid.] 280: My best polygraph is dead! dead as a nail, dash my jasy! | |
| Hamlet Travestie III vi: I’ve had a precious swig—If I’m not a dead woman—dash my wig. | |
| Tom Crib’s Memorial to Congress 46: BILL GIBBONS ne’er / In all his days was known to swear, / Except light oaths, to grace his speeches, / Like ‘dash my wig!’. | |
| Stamford Mercury 7 July 4/7: Jack held out his hand with all the money he had,and said, ‘dash my wig, Master Parson, take this, and marry us’. | |
| Pelham I 283: Sir Willoughby [...] made to this extraordinary remonstrance no other reply than a long whiff, and a ‘Well, Russelton, dash my wig [...] but you’re a queer fellow.’. | |
| Cockney Adventures 20 Jan. 92: Well I niver – Walker! – a tool – dash my vig! – what a fool! | |
| Comic Almanack Jan. 208: But, dash my wigs – this pretty set [...] Won’t let an honest feller whet / His lawful wengeance on his own. | |
| Bell’s Life in Sydney 9 Oct. 3/2: Witness said ‘no’ whereupon the old genelteman ‘dashed his wig and buttons’. | |
| Handley Cross (1924) 52: Dash my vig! wot men I’ve seen in the ’unting-field! | |
| Our Mutual Friend (1994) 652: If you hadn’t come round to me tonight, dash my wig if I wouldn’t have come round to you tomorrow. | |
| Sl. Dict. 140: Dash an ejaculation, as ‘DASH my wig!’. | |
| Bismarck Trib. (ND) 31 May 2/3: Why, you don’t mean to say, — Well, I never; — dash my wig, — well [etc.]. | |
| Jack’s Courtship I 296: If I knew of another word to express the same thing, dash my wig if I wouldn’t bestow it on you. | |
| ‘Vagaries of the Vernacular’ The Sporting Times 15 Mar. 1/3: It is only something big, not a paltry ‘dash my wig!’ / That secures the lusty shouts of legislators. | |
| Passing Eng. of the Victorian Era 104/2: Dash my wig (Peoples’). Another version of ‘darn’ in the time of wigs. Still heard, though wigs are seldom referred to, if worn. | |
| ‘Draining of the Save-Alls’ Seaways 115: Mr Aughtlone [...] Never swore, only ‘Desh my wigs an’ trouser buttons!’. | |
| (con. 1835–40) Bold Bendigo 308: Dash my wig! What’s the country coming to? |