Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(orig. Irish) to surpass, to tell fabulous, fantastic tales; often with addition and Banagher beat the Devil.

1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue n.p.: Banaghan, he beats Banaghan, an Irish saying of one who tells wonderful stories, perhaps Banaghan was a minister famous for dealing in the marvellous.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1830		W. Carleton ‘The Three Tasks’ Traits and Stories of the Irish Peasantry I 50: ‘O, by this and by that,’ says he, ‘but that bates Banagher!’.
1832		S. Lover Legends and Stories 159: By gor, that bangs Banagher, and all the world knows Banagher bangs the divil.
1838		Tralee Mercury 6 Jan. 2/2: Mock-modesty’s not your fault, I see; / For this bangs Bannagher; that bangs me.
1839		N.Y. Daily Express 10 Jan. 2/4: [He] refused [to be quiet] and threatened to ‘bang Bannager’ out of him if he didn’t take himself off.
1841		‘A Letter [...] From Peter Strongbow etc.’ Dublin Comic Songster 309: There is no use in talkin,’ Paddy – the waves bet Banaher, aye, an’ bet our unfortunate ship to baby rags.
1843		Vindicator (Antrim) 23 Sept. 2/6: Banagher bangs the devil, and it will bang the bottom out of his heir-at-law—the vile parchment Union.
1846		Bell’s Life in Sydney 14 Nov. 3/2: The neighbourhoods of Ultimo, Waverly, and Pyrmont, bang Banagher far being inhabited by a number of persons, male and female, about the most quarrelsome in the world.
1847		R.F. Walond Paddiana I 251: That bangs Banagher!
1848		Northern Star 5 Aug. 12/6: Experienced as he is in ‘the ways of the world,’ it must even, in his eyes, ‘beat Bannagher’.
1848		D.O. Madden Revelations of Ireland 115: The like of you a gintleman! Wisha, by gor, that bangs Banagher.
1851		Manchester Courier 20 Sept. 7/2: They will [...] afterwards protest that they beat Bannagher.
1855		T. Haliburton Nature and Human Nature II 226: There would be a hurrah at that, as O’Connell used to say, that would bang Banagher.
1862		Bristol Mercury 20 Dec. 6/2: Wisha, by gore, that bangs Banagher.
1865		H. Kingsley Hillyars and Burtons (1870) 313: ‘Well! if this don’t bang wattle gum,’ began Gerty.
1870		Sportsman (London) 12 Feb. 4/1: The devotion of a limb, and moreover of such a valuable portion of that of the epidermis ‘bangs Bannagher’.
1877		Western Mail (S. Glamorgan, Wales) 29 Oct. 3/6: They bates Bannagher, Mick, an’ shure Bannagher bate the devil.
1879		C.J. Kickham Knocknagow 272: ‘Well, that bangs Banagher,’ exclaimed Billy Heffernan, rising to his feet, and rubbing his eyes.
1879		H. Hartigan Stray Leaves (2nd ser.) 2: I have seen some wild pranks in my time, and some, wild scamps too; but if some of them banged Banagher, Darby Doyle banged the lot!
1879		M.E. Braddon Cloven Foot I 241: ‘This bangs Banagher,’ he exclaimed.
1885		Bulletin (Sydney) 17 Jan. 13/1: Well, be th’ howly frog, ye haythins bate Banagher, an’ Banagher bates th’ divil.
1898		J.D. Brayshaw Slum Silhouettes 25: ‘Go it, ye divils!’ cried he. ‘This bangs Banagher.’.
1899		Newcastle Courant 11 Feb. 5/4: ‘Well!’ cried Blake, slapping his thigh, ’if that doesn’t beat Banagher; and Banagher beats the devil!’.
1905		Bulletin (Sydney) 3 Aug. 16/2: ‘Well, that do bang Bannagher,’ said Flynn as they walked back to the camp.
c.1905		J. Furphy Buln-Buln and the Brolga (1948) 🌐 Jist look here, Mr M’Culloch! [...] Don’t that bang Bannaghar?
1907		Tamworth Herald 27 July 2/4: ‘Damme,’ he exclaimed [...] ‘if this doesn’t beat Bannagher’.
1913		A. Irvine My Lady of the Chimney Corner 127: ‘Thin I towld him I’d seen the Banshee!’ ‘That bates Bannagher!’ says he. ‘It bates the divil,’ says I.
1914		C. Holme Lonely Plough (1931) 24: Licks creation! Stuns the stars! Bangs Banagher!
1936		M. Harrison All the Trees were Green 312: God bless us: this beats Bannigan.
1958		(con. 1940s) B. Behan Borstal Boy 325: It beats cock-fighting [...] and that beats Banagher, and Banagher beats the divil.
1960		Irish Digest 68 80: So this is the marvel of Banagher, and that's why people, when they hear anything extraordinary, are apt to exclaim " That beats Banagher!
1983		W. Trevor Fools of Fortune 166: Would you credit that? Well, that beats Banagher!
1997		Share Slanguage.

(US) a euph. for go to hell! under hell n.

1907		Eve. Star (Washington, DC) 25 Aug. 4/5: We’d hoist our feet on the kitchen table, light a see-gar [...] an’ till thim to go to Bannagher.
1910		F.P. Dunne Mr Dooley Says 76: Till thim go to Bannagher.