Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (US) a comparative phr. used to indicate absoluteness, e.g. dead as..., cold as...

1851		‘How Sally Hooter Got Snake-Bit’ in T.A. Burke Polly Peablossom’s Wedding 70: ’Taint no use killin’ him – he’s past prayin’ for! I pledge you my word he was dead as Billy-be-d----d!
1873		W. Bottrell Traditions and Hearthside Stories of West Cornwall 191: Looking s wisht, ragged and dirty as ‘Billy-be-damned’.
1898		F. Norris Moran of the Lady Letty 65: Lord, it’s as plain as Billy-b’damn.
1905		H. Green Actors’ Boarding House (1906) 367: What in Billy-be-dam ails you?
1914		B. Harte in Overland Mthly 60: ‘Billy be blowed,’ viciously retorted Athanasius.
1914		DN 4 71: Dead as Billy-be-damned [...] very dead.
1918		R.D. Paine Fighting Fleets 284: We all pulled and thrashed about like billy-be-damned.
1925		J. Tully Beggars of Life 15: She’s colder’n Billy-be-damned outside.
1934–9		T.E. Campbell ‘The I.W.W. in Arizona’ (ms.) He came to Arizona in the middle 80ties to the Globe Mining District, then a booting camp, as rough and tough as Billy-be-Damned.
1958		VT Hist. ns 26 260: Colder than Billy be damned (Billy hell, Billy Thunder.) Hotter than billy be damned [DARE].
1963		(con. 1860s) Percy Bridges ‘Origins of a Missouri Rural Teacher’ 🌐 I staggered in to a saloon and called for whiskey raw, / And got as drunk as billy-be-damned the day I left Arkansaw.
1966		G. & K. Swarthout Whichaway (1967) 62: Goin’ like Billy-be-danged I ride right smack b’tween a positive an’ a negative.
1978		S. King Stand (1990) 354: The mutie had been crossing the town square just as big as Billy-be-damned.
1995		Burlington (VT) Free Press 2 Apr. n.p.: That coffee’s colder than Billy-be-damned.

2. as a term of address.

1911

E. Dyson ‘The Rivals’ Benno and Some of the Push 161: ‘What-o, Billy-be-dam’d, are you it?’ said the packer.