Green’s Dictionary of Slang

not care a louse v.

to not care at all.

1550		Udall Ralph Roister Doister in Dodsley III (1874) I ii: I will tarry here this month, but some of the house / Shall take it of me, and then I care not a louse.
1562		Jacke Juggler Biii: But I wold not set by hym a louse.
1607		Middleton Trick to Catch the Old One III iv: I will not give a louse for thy fortunes.
1623		Middleton & Rowley Spanish Gypsy III i: If the tailor were the devil, I’d not give a louse for him.
1633		Jonson Tale of a Tub II i: I care not, I, sir, not three skips of a louse for you.
1654		Witts Recreations ‘Fancies and Fantasticks’ No. 115: For any Alehouse, / We care not a Louse.
a.1661		‘A Hymne to the Gentle Craft’ Rump Poems and Songs (1662) II 153: He cares not for the Sessions a Lowse.
c.1663		‘Iter Hibernicum’ in Carpenter Verse in English from Tudor & Stuart Eng. (2003) 398: Nor for your Raggs you’l care a Louse.
1673		Æsop improved 111: But afterwards she did not care a louse.
c.1709		‘The Female Scuffle’ in Farmer Merry Songs and Ballads (1897) IV 212: I’ll have half says the Baud, but you shan’t says the Whore: / Why, ’tis my House, / I care not a Louse.
1719		in D’Urfey Pills to Purge Melancholy II 118: Well, nothing comes on’t it, and I care not a Louse.
1724		A. Ramsay Tea-table Misc. (1733) IV 329: The gutter that car’d not a louse, Ran mournfully muddily by.
1796		Sporting Mag. Feb. VII 283/2: Why, Sir, I would not give a louse / For twenty such.
1798		‘Newly Dubb’d Jew’ in Hilaria 23: Not a crab-louse car’d P[eg]o for the Priest and his laws.
1825		W. Cobbett Big O and Sir Glory II i: I don’t care a louse’s liver for your poparality, as you call it.
1836		‘Peas, Beans, And Cabbage!’ Flash Casket 98: Bet swore, ‘Damn her, she cared not a louse!’.
1839		Crim.-Con. Gaz. 19 Jan. 21/1: She no care three skips ob him louse for Jim Crow.