Green’s Dictionary of Slang

a euph. for damn adj.

1862		H. Kingsley Ravenshoe II 39: Darn politics.
1875		F.H. Sheppard Love Afloat 271: He had occasion to go to New York, and like a darn fool – beg your pardon, ladies – he took Cato along with him.
1884		(con. c.1840) ‘Mark Twain’ Huckleberry Finn 159: Dern the dern fog.
1887		Ouachita Teleg. (Monroe, LA) 15 Jan. 4/1: Confound this country! The darn niggers won’t work [...] the blame niggers won’t work.
1892		Manchester Courier 23 Jan. 14/5: Yo’ dern lazy, shirkin’ heifer.
1900		Sun (NY) 2 Dec. 31/4: You sleep when you please, an’ you do as you durn well please.
1902		J. Masefield ‘Sing a Song o’Shipwreck’ in Salt-Water Ballads 7: ’N’ moans about love like a dern old hen wi’ the pip.
1904		Sydney Sportsman (Surry Hills, NSW) 28 Sept. 2/4: [T]he bookmakers have been a-goin’ of it. Wine, turkey, woman, turtle soup, and every durn thing a fanciful fancy can desire.
1917		‘A-No. 1’ From Coast to Coast with Jack London 109: There isn’t a darn thing but misfortune to be gained by anybody on the Road.
1921		N. Putnam West Broadway 142: ’Say, mister, we don't know a darn thing about this stuff. Would you kindly wise us up as to the names of some of it!’.
1924		(con. 1880–1924) F.J. Wilstach Anecdota erótica 41: Life is just one dern thing after another.
1924		C.J. Dennis ‘A Woman’s Way’ in Chisholm (1951) 88: I know I said I’d chuck the ’ole darn job.
1925		Odum & Johnson Negro and His Songs (1964) 154: The durn ole mule was standin’ there dead.
1931		E.M. Berry ‘Sawmill Divertissements’ in Botkin Folk-Say 221: Barly don’t do a dern thing but whup out his exploding rod and shoot John.
1939		P. Cheyney Don’t Get Me Wrong (1956) 9: Everybody in this place is a durn liar.
1939		J.L. Dove ‘Fighting Ben’ in Mss. from the Federal Writers’ Project 🌐 The more it rained, the more the grass grew, and the more the weevil came. But it made no difference with the dern niggers and their wants.
1941		A. Mendes ‘Afternoon in Trinidad’ in Lehmann Penguin New Writing No. 6 79: Is a darm shame, daas whey it is.
1947–53		W. Guthrie Seeds of Man (1995) 261: Some blamed female with a dern dress on.
1964		‘Charles Barrett’ Address: Kings Cross 55: Darn people who think they can shove their responsibilities on to boarding schools and school-teachers.
1964		Larner & Tefferteller Addict in the Street (1966) 93: They should leave the darn addict alone. Don’t get the addict, he’s helpless. Get the pusher.
1970		A. Young Snakes (1971) 125: I’mo have that durn phone number changed.
1974		D. Goines Swamp Man 85: We didn’t know a darn thing was wrong with him.
1977		G. Swarthout Melodeon 98: I wanted a doll, and you gave me darn old galoshes.
1987		‘Joe Bob Briggs’ Joe Bob Goes to the Drive-In 9: Rain? Piece of cake. What are your durn wipers for?
1989		C. Hiaasen Skin Tight 134: I wanted to cover up these darn patches.
2008		D.R. Pollock ‘Hair’s Fate’ in Knockemstiff 41: ‘You look like a dern lightbulb’.