Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(US) a mild oath: ‘to hell with’; a euph. for god-damn v.

1838		N.Y. Mirror 23 Mar. 307/2: ‘If I don’t [i.e. ignite an explosion] now, dad burn me.’ ‘Mon Dieu! Mon Dieu!’ exclaimed the old Frenchman.
1839		Spirit of the Times (N.Y.) 18 May 120/1: If I don’t now, dad burn me. [Ibid.] 28 Dec. 512/1: Dad fetch him, the minit I started he jumped right in to me [DA].
1845		W.T. Thompson Chronicles of Pineville 67: Dadfetch me if I’s the chap to be fooled with petticoats.
1851		‘Pertaters & Ternups’ in T.A. Burke Polly Peablossom’s Wedding 96: If this isn’t a fency country, dad fetch my buttons [...] ‘Dad blame my pictur,’ ses Bill.
1866		C.H. Smith Bill Arp 48: Dad burn old Brown. What security has a man got for his liberty?
1876		(con. c.1840) ‘Mark Twain’ Tom Sawyer 271: And dad fetch it, she prayed all the time!
1878		Manchester Eve. News 2 Nov. 4/3: Now the cussed critter is a gone coon. Dad-burn the whole tribe.
1887		Scribner’s Mag. ‘Dadgum ye! [...] by grabs, hit’s a human critter! [F&H].
1901		W.N. Harben Westerfelt 300: Yes, dad burn it; you know she loves you.
1903		Ade ‘Mr Lindsay on ‘San Jewan’’ in In Babel 253: We wuz out in the underbrush, dad ding my buttons, havin’ it out with the toughest lot o’ human panthers that ever wore cloze.
1903		Eve. Teleg. (Dundee) 14 Apr. 3/2: Caesar [...] Dadgum you!
1905		J.W. Carr ‘Words from Northwest Arkansas’ in DN III:i 76: dad blame, v. [...] ‘God damn’ [...] dad burn, v. [...] ‘God damn’ [...] dad dim, v. [...] ‘God damn’ [...] dad gone, v . [...] ‘God damn’. [Ibid.] III:ii 133: dad gast. Mild oath. ‘Dad gast it all! What did you do that for?’.
1908		L.W. Payne Jr ‘Word-List From East Alabama’ in DN III:iv 304: dad-blast, interj. A mild imprecation.
1909		W.M. Raine Brand Blotters (1912) 127: Up to date I always had an idee I was some sort of a man, but dad gum it! I cayn’t see it hyer.
1912		A.G. Field Watch Yourself Go By 356: Dad-burn him; he got a dose of his own medicine.
1915		H.E. Rollins ‘A West Texas Word List’ in DN IV:iii 225: dad-gum it, interj. Used to express surprise or anger. Other variations are dad-blast it, dad-burn it, dad-bum it.
1916		P. Kyne Cappy Ricks 28: Dadding it, boy, I never knew there was so much fun in business until I had practically retired!
1917		G. Herriman ‘Baron Bean’ [comic strip] Da-a-a-gunnit, how can I see a ‘periscope’ with all these floating ‘gas-pipes’ sasshaying [sic] around.
1918		R.D. Paine Fighting Fleets 335: I’m a-lookin’ at ye, dad gast ye!
1923		I.S. Cobb A Laugh a Day Keeps the Doctor Away n.p.: ‘There now, – dad-gum you!’ he shouted; ‘I told you you hadn’t wrote in enough of then naughts!’.
1924		P. MacKaye Tall Tales of the Kentucky Mountains in Botkin (1944) 59: ‘Dadburn me ef I be!’ says Solomon. [Ibid.] 63: ‘Dad fetch me!’ says I in my dream.
1928		J. Callahan Man’s Grim Justice 97: Dad blame my soul [...] ah just can’t make heads or tails out on it.
1931		H. Hatcher ‘Raccoon John’ in Botkin Folk-Say 35: Dad burn the dadburned bitch to hell!
1943		J. Mitchell McSorley’s Wonderful Saloon (2001) 233: You start out with ‘hell,’ ‘devil take it,’ ‘Dad burn it,’ ‘Gee whizz,’ and the like.
1946		Chicago Daily News 23 Nov. 1/2: Dad blame it, I’ve taken all I can from you [DA].
1948		(con. c.1910s) J. Stevens Big Jim Turner 37: Doggone it all, the pore young’n, dad gum it anyhow, the pore boy.
1949		in G. Legman The Limerick (1953) 66: There was a young fellow of Mayence / Who fucked his own arse, in defiance / Not only of custom / And morals, dad-bust him, / But most of the known laws of science.
1961		O. Davis Purlie Victorious in Brasmer, William & Consolo Black Drama III i: Confound Ol’ Cap’n! Dad-blast Ol’ Cap’n.
1968		T. Wolfe Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test (1969) 57: They holed up in town / And dad-blame but they found a neighborly way / To pay for their stay.
1984		D. Jenkins Life Its Ownself (1985) 156: Dadgumit, you know, I mean to, but I [...] forgot.
1989		Eble Campus Sl. Mar. 3: dadgumit – casual expression of disappointment. ‘Dadgumit, I was hoping for a B.’.