Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(Irish) a euph. oath.

1825		T.C. Croker Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland (1862) 244: Tear and ayjers! what ill luck I had not to be in work this year!
c.1830		‘Pharo’s Daughter’ in Montague Bk of Irish Verse (1976) 217: A bull-rush tripped her, whereupon she saw / A smiling babby in a wad of straw, / She took it up and said in accents mild: / Tare an’ ages, girls, which of yez owns the child?
1832		S. Lover Legends and Stories 6: Blur-an-ages, how kem you to know about my goose?
1839		Bristol Mercury 14 Dec. 2/6: Half a ginnery! [...] tare an’ ages.
1842		Wexford Chron. 4 June 4/5: He flings the glass from him. ‘Blur an’ ounds an’ ages! What’s this,’ he says.
1845		D. Corcoran Pickings from N.O. Picayune (1847) 125: Blur-an’-ages! isn’t it a pity.
1846		Censor (London) 25 Jan. 5/2: Tare and ajes! I am kilt by that Gutter Commissioner.
1851		M. Reid Scalp-Hunters III 130: Tare an ages!
1854		Waterford Mail 29 Nov. 3/6: Some of the the citizens of Carrick were against its introduction; others were for it [...] ‘Blur an’ ages, why not, your worship’.
1859		Leicester Jrnl 15 July 8/5: Tare an’ ages, there they go!
1867		Stirling Obs. 12 Sept. 5/6: Och, tare an’ ages! Is there iver a man av yez can pick up mi cabeen?
1873		Morn. Star & Catholic Messenger (New Orleans, LA) 29 June 2/2: Arra, blur-an-ages, Miss Winny, didn’t I cut across [...] an tould him every haporth?
1874		Preston Chron. 16 May 7/4: ‘Tare an’ ages,’ says he, ‘but they look mighty quare’.
1879		C.J. Kickham Knocknagow 12: Blur-an-agers, have sinse, sir – have sinse.
1879		H. Hartigan Stray Leaves (2nd ser.) 161: ‘Tare an’ ages, man, d’ye think I stole him’.
1887		Morpeth Herald 12 Feb. 6/2: ‘Tare and ages!’ yelled one of the new comers.
1893		Hants. Teleg. 23 Dec. 10/7: Blur an’ ages (says I), what’ll I do.
1898		J.D. Brayshaw Slum Silhouettes 23: ‘Tare an ages!’ cried he, finding it empty.
1900		Bulletin (Sydney) 28 Apr. 31/4: ‘[H]ow do you spell it?’ / ‘Tare an ages! Amn’t I wantin’ you to shpell it!’.
1904		Tamworth Herald 1 Oct. 2/7: Tare an’ ages ye’ll both be drowned in the swamp if ye ain’t shot to death.
1910		Ottumwa Tri-Weekly (IA) 27 Aug. 5: Oh, blur-an-ages, look who’s comin’ at us now.
1922		T.E. Spencer ‘Molony, J.P.’ in Budgeree Ballads 52: ‘Tare and ages!’ says I, ‘may the divil set sail / Wid your wife and her fool of a hat!’.
1950		(con. 1936–46) K.S. Prichard Winged Seeds (1984) 225: Tare’n ages, it’d be a nasty jar for Paddy, that!