Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(mainly Aus./N.Z.) a mild excl.

1886		Portland Guardian 27 Oct. 2/7: Spare my days, he gallops — yes, gallops.
1892		‘Fanny Flukem’s Ball’ in Bird o’ Freedom (Sydney) in J. Murray Larrikins (1973) 40: I’m a cut above such jigs as that; / For spare me days, I am, / But it narks a bloomin’ girl to see / Such trollops put on jam.
1892		Launceston Examiner (Tas.) 26 Mar. 2/5: No, God spare me days, yer don’t get me in that — adjective, adjective, adjective — fashion.
1898		W.T. Goodge ‘Daley’s Dorg Wattle’ in Bulletin 16 July 3: And in less than fifteen seconds, spare me days, it ain’t a lie, That there dorg had got that insect in the bottle.
1904		‘Dryblower’ ‘His Quest’ in Sun. Times (Perth) 3 Apr. 4/7: When the pair of blankers bolted, spare me days, they took me dog!
1915		C.J. Dennis ‘The Intro’ in Songs of a Sentimental Bloke 19: ’Er name’s Doreen . . . Well, spare me bloomin’ days!
1924		E.G. Murphy ‘Dossin’ Outer Doors’ Dryblower’s Verses 5: I ain’t a scientific bloke, but spare me dinkum days, / If I tumble to this josser and his noo fandangled ways.
1931		Townsville Daily Bull. (Qld) 7 July 11/6: Spare me days, you’d be the world dishin’ out slops to them ringers.
1938		J.B. Booth Sporting Times 273: Spare-me-days! [...] it wasn’t until I’d run half the length of Regent Street that it flashed across me that he could do a mile in 4.13 ¼.
1941		Baker Popular Dict. Aus. Sl.
1946		Northern Standard (Darwin, NT) 30 Aug. 3/1: Spare me days! The girls need nets now.
1955		D. Niland Shiralee 108: Spare me days, Mac, you’ve only just come.
1967		J. Wynnum I’m a Jack, All Right 34: Gawd spare me days! [...] If you could only stay sober instead of getting paralytic.
2003		McGill Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. 196: spare me days! Long-suffering exclamation ANZ early C20.

see good grief! under good adj.¹

(Aus.) non-specific excl.

1909

‘A “Push” Story’ in Bulletin (Sydney) 2 Sept. 17/1: ‘Spare me sweat, if we wuzn’t foolin’ with redlight’.

(Aus.) non-specific excl.

1914

Truth (Melbourne) 6 June 2/4: Spare the crows, and spare me days, what will be comin’ next?s.