Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. an all-purpose profanity, a euph. for damn v.; esp. as past participle, e.g. cussed if...

1809		A.B. Lindsley Yankee Notions 10: Cuss you! cuss you Jonathan!
1837		Thackeray Yellowplush Papers in Works III (1898) 260: I recollect your ‘May-day in the morning’ – cuss me, the best comick song I ever heard.
1843		L.H. Medina Nick of the Woods III i: For cuss me, I’ve stole hosses in it!
1850		‘Ned Buntline’ G’hals of N.Y. 41: Cussed if I don’t put into it strong, and ’stonish ’em! [Ibid.] 73: ‘Cuss it!’ he muttered.
1866		Wild Boys of London I 154/2: If they gets me agin, why, cuss me, if I mightn’t be blowed, that’s all.
1874		Leeds Times 28 Mar. 6/5: Cuss ’im, there he is!
1885		J.S. Borlase Blue Cap, the Bushranger 53/2: I be cussed!
1889		Sheffield Wkly Teleg. 16 Nov. 2/2: ‘I will have more brandy, cuss you’.
1892		Morton & LeBrunn ‘Twiggy Voo?’ in http://monologues.co.uk/musichall 🌐 Boy says ‘What's the time please, Gus?’ / Gus says, ‘Don’t know’ then says, ‘Cuss’.
1905		H. Green Actors’ Boarding House (1906) 9: Cuss it all!
1907		Gem 23 Mar. 3: Cuss the fall!

2. (also cuss-cuss, cuss down, cuss off, cuss up) to abuse verbally, to insult, to swear; thus cussing n.

[1701		N. Ward ‘Battel without Bloodshed’ in Writings (1704) 114: Thus some very gaudy, and others as Plain; / Some Kicking of France, others Cussing of Spain].
1842		T. Hood ‘University Feud’ Works (1862) V 418: For he cusses every member that’s agin him at the poll.
1846		Durivage & Burnham Stray Subjects (1848) 109: And though I didn’t shed no tear, / Perhaps I cussed ‘a few’.
1862		Semi-Wkly Shreveport News 3 June 4/1: So from his bunk in rage he leaped. / And ‘cussed’ the whole concern.
1862		Capt. Clutterbuck’s Champagne 56: Him cuss me, and tell me to go to ----, sar.
1878		F.H. Hart Sazerac Lying Club 184: What wouldn’t I give if I could cuss like a man.
1884		San Antonio Light (TX) 23 June 4/2: The Recorder asked them if it were not a case of ‘cussing’ on both sides and [...] he fined them $5 each.
1884		(con. c.1840) ‘Mark Twain’ Huckleberry Finn 185: He cussed away, with all his might.
1892		McCook Trib. (NE) 24 June 5/6: The people who used to cuss him [...] will [...] lament together that this good man [etc.].
1899		Eve. Star (Canterbury) 9 Sept. n.p.: Here’s to you, cussin’, fighting, Trooper Jackson.
1900		Marvel 21 Dec. 16: I wos [...] cussin wimmen like pisen.
1901		White Oaks Eagle (NM) 30 May 2/2: These same fellows would take advantage of the situation to ‘cuss’ him in seven different languages.
1916		P. Kyne Cappy Ricks 312: ‘If I do I’ll cuss something scandalous,’ Matt warned him.
1923		H.C. Witwer Fighting Blood 274: I didn’t do a particle of swearin’ or cussin’.
1924		Kipling ‘The United Idolaters’ in Complete Stalky & Co. (1987) 153: But why didn’t King ra’ar up an’ cuss Tar Baby?
1939		J.L. Dove ‘Fighting Ben’ in Mss. from the Federal Writers’ Project 🌐 I took it upon myself, while the old alley bat cussed me, to walk through that house and drag out, piece by piece, our furniture.
1942		L. Bennett ‘Eart’quake Night’ in Jam. Dialect Poems 19: She cuss po Amy ‘black’.
1951		L. Brown Iron City 207: I was walking my cell and cussing up a blue streak.
1952		J. Jones From Here to Eternity (1998) 606: Some guys fly into a regular fit and cuss and fart and snort like a stud bull in the pasture.
1964		J. Thompson Pop. 1280 in Four Novels (1983) 373: She’d cuss Myra until it actually made me blush.
1974		V.E. Smith Jones Men 209: I’m sorry I cussed you baby.
1984		C. White Life and Times of Little Richard 48: He was always chewing this big cigar, cussin’ at me round the end of it.
1986		R. Hewitt White Talk Black Talk 5471: She made me feel as if I was a criminal and I wanted to really go up and cuss her off, you know.
1999		(con. 1979–80) A. Wheatle Brixton Rock (2004) 10: The bad-card Flynn was running and cussing me down.
2000		Guardian G2 2 Feb. 8: Boys [...] dismissed most homophobic taunting as light-hearted ‘cussing’ which never really hurt anyone.
2003		G. Tate Midnight Lightning 4: His own mad children can’t ever stop themselves from cussing up a storm.
2005		(con. c.1945) A. Wheatle Island Songs (2006) 33: Vendors pushing carts would jostle and cuss-cuss each other for business.
2013		Antigua Obs. 2 Feb. 🌐 Cuss you now and hug you later was synonymous with Winston.
2016		A. Wheatle Crongton Knights 17: I overheard some cussing going down in his castle.
2019		N. Walker Cherry 35: I liked the way she cussed. She cussed with great beauty.

3. (UK teen) to abuse a person’s parents with the direct intent of forcing them to lose their temper; a UK version of the dozens n.

2001		N. Barlay Hooky Gear 68: Some other kids yellin at his enemy: Tell your mum: the bitch is through. Enemy come back with: Yeah an next time you see yours get my pants back for me.
2001		OnLine Dict. of Playground Sl. 🌐 cuss v. This definition has the word ‘cuss’ meaning to call an opposing kid’s parents. For example, a gang of kids at a classroom table start calling their so called mate’s mum or dad. One of the classic ones was, ‘your dad gets so excited sitting on the toilet that he has to wear seatbelts’. Or, ‘your mum shops at Oxfam’ or something like that.