Green’s Dictionary of Slang

a mild excl., lit. by Jesus!

1825		W. Cobbett Big O and Sir Glory I ii: Be Jases (clenching his fists at Howitzer), I’ll . . . .
1878		Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 27 Apr. 6/3: ‘Jes me luck, be Jaz’.
1890		Sporting Times 1 Feb. 2/1: ‘Oh! Bejasus,’ sez he, ‘and begorrah and bedad; what have you got yourself up like a Faynian image for?’.
1893		People’s Voice (Wellington, KS) 1 Dec. 6/5: ‘I could buy them in Ireland for sixpence.’ ‘Then why didn’t you stay in that blessed country?’ ‘Bejazus, you couldn’t get the sixpence’.
1908		L.W. Payne Jr ‘Word-List From East Alabama’ in DN III:iv 290: bejazus, interj. A mild expletive.
1916		J. Hargrave At Suvla Bay Ch. iii: ‘Kitchener’s cowboy! Isn’t he lovely!’ ‘Bejazus! so-it-is!’ ‘Come an’ see [...] by-the-holy-sufferin’-jazus!’.
1925		Dos Passos Manhattan Transfer 250: No I’m not bejases I’m a married man.
1932		(con. 1910s) J.T. Farrell Young Lonigan in Studs Lonigan (1936) 95: Well, then, bejazus, whose dog is it?
1935		(con. 1920s) J.T. Farrell Judgement Day in Studs Lonigan (1936) 827: Dad, bejesus no.
1939		(con. 1880–90s) S. O’Casey I Knock at the Door 10: I’d sell meself for him, be Jasus.
1945		R.L. Bellem ‘Ruby Ransom’ Hollywood Detective Dec. 🌐 Well for crying brine in a barrel. Flannigan, bejeest!
1953		H. Tracy Mind You, I’ve Said Nothing (1961) 16: The Irish may sometimes say Bejabbers and Bejasus and Begob but they do not say Begorrah.
1958		(con. 1940s) B. Behan Borstal Boy 260: Would they, bejasus?
1959		P. Marshall Brown Girl, Brownstones (1960) 36: Be-Jees, you just try moving me from this house. You just try!
1966		P. Boyle At Night All Cats Are Grey 256: Bejazus, ye’re an odd duck surely.
1970		C. Brown Down All the Days 79: Bejasus, girls, there’ll be no more holding me from now on!
1973		H. Leonard Da (1981) Act I: Informing me that bejasus the weather would hold up if it didn’t rain.
1980		A. Clarke Growing Up Stupid Under the Union Jack 95: Be-Jesus Christ, if I didn’t know your mother [...] I would drive this piece o’ iron into your fucking head.
1987		(con. 1920s) L. Redmond Emerald Square 80: ‘Bejasus,’ said Ernie between his teeth, ‘if you split to the feckin’ master, I’ll bloody well kill yeh.’.
1996		J. Murphy A Picture of Paradise in McGuinness Dazzling Dark (1996) Act I: I’d’ve ran quicker meself bejaysus! [Ibid.] Act II: Bejaysus, you’d want to be paid to live round here, the state of the kip.
1997		(con. 1950s) D. Farson Never a Normal Man 113: ‘Bejesus, you bore the hell out of me,’ he snarled.
2000		Guardian G2 10 Jan. 3: B’jasus, if only I could remember.