Green’s Dictionary of Slang

damn it! excl.

a mild excl., a general oath.

[1589		Pappe with a Hatchet (1844) 16: Hang a spawne? drowne it; alls one, damne it! Ye like not a Bishops rochet, when all your fathers hankerchers were made of his sweete harts smocke].
1696		J. Dunton Night-Walker Dec. 15: No, D--m it, says she, I love better to be my own Mistress.
c.1700		London-Bawd (1705) 173: No, Damn it, says she, I had rather be my own Mistress.
1766		Colman & Garrick Clandestine Marriage Epilogue: col. trill: Oh, damn it! mrs. quaver: Damn it! first lady: Damn it! miss crochet: Damn it! lord minum: Damn it!
1776		Ipswich Jrnl 2 Mar. 1/2: A man [...] was taken to be a porter, as he frequently crid out, ‘D— it’.
1794		R. Cumberland The Jew IV i: Damn it! do you think I wou’d stand by and hear my master abus’d.
1800		‘The Tight Little Island’ in Jovial Songster 54: Then a very great war-man, called Billy the Norman, / Cried, damn it, I never lik’d my land.
1818		‘A. Burton’ Adventures of Johnny Newcome I 40: And---D--n it all!
1818		‘Thomas Brown’ Fudge Family in Paris in Moore Poetical Works VII Letter VIII 157: If for no other cause than their curst monkey looks, / Well deserve a blow-up — but then, damn it, their Cooks!
1837		‘Terence O’Shaughnessy’ in Bentley’s Misc. Jan. 34: D--n it! I often wish that Biddy was a boy.
1842		S. Lover Handy Andy 15: D--n it! I wish I knew what it’s about.
1854		Bell’s Life in Sydney 25 Feb. 2/6: Aw-aw-ah-dem it; quite a mistake.
1858		A. Mayhew Paved with Gold 354: D---n it, he seems to think I was dog barking.
1862		W.Cheadle Journal (1931) 9 Aug. 44: Get up and smoke; long argument with Messiter on use of ‘damn it‘.
1869		H. Smart Breezie Langton I 138: ‘Dal it all, but he can go’.
1873		J. O’Connor Wanderings of a Vagabond 454: Why, in course it’s yourn, d---n it! Who don’t know that? But give a feller a chance, won’t yer?
1880		G.R. Sims Three Brass Balls 189: She was spoony on me once; but, dem it all, you know, it won’t do, will it?
1885		C.A. Siringo A Texas Cow Boy (1950) 113: Why, Dum-it-all.
1894		G. du Maurier Trilby 107: Hi! damn it, Svengali, what the devil are you talking to Trilby about?
1896		S. Crane George’s Mother (2001) 97: Shake hands—both good fellows, damnitall!
1901		‘Rolf Boldrewood’ In Bad Company 217: ‘D--n it all, man,’ says I.
1903		J. Furphy Such is Life 169: D---n it, man, this is the very nationality you have been fleering at.
1914		Joyce ‘Grace’ Dubliners (1956) 168: No, damn it all, I bar the candles!
1918		‘Sapper’ Human Touch 6: But, damn it, Shorty, I knew you were here.
1920		F.S. Fitzgerald This Side of Paradise in Bodley Head Scott Fitzgerald III (1960) 61: ‘Damn it all,’ he whispered aloud.
1922		Wodehouse Clicking of Cuthbert 1: For ever, dammit! Footlong game!
1930		J. Lait Put on the Spot 39: ‘Damn it,’ he snarled. [Ibid.] 125: Dammit, I burnt my finger!
1930		L. Lower Here’s Luck 126: George fell out and the engine stopped. ‘Dammit!’ cursed Stanley.
1930		L. Lower Here’s Luck 12: ‘I mean, well damitall he orders steak and eggs, doesn’t he?’.
1939		(con. 1880–90s) S. O’Casey I Knock at the Door 253: Bedammit, it’s hard lines, if a man can’t pass a simple remark in a simple way on a simple subject.
1942		S. O’Casey Red Roses for Me I v: Oh, damn it, man, when you repeat the Church’s counsel, repeat it right!
1943		R. Chandler Lady in the Lake (1952) 11: Damn it all [...] I liked it. I liked it fine.
1949		S. O’Casey Cock-A-Doodle-Dandy Act II: Damnit, but I forgot about it!
1951		Dal Stivens Jimmy Brockett 9: Here’s fifty quid. No damn it all, take two hundred and fifty.
1951		M. Spillane One Lonely Night 20: Nuts! Sit down, damn it!
1959		Kerouac letter 6 Dec. in Charters Sel. Letters II (1999) 227: Dammit, I was passed out (my ma too) after drinking waiting for you and others.
1968		Peter Barnes Ruling Class I vi: But dammit I am prospective Parliamentary candidate for the division.
1976		Cab Calloway Of Minnie the Moocher and Me 7: Dammit, you made it because you are [...] one [...] stubborn black son of a bitch.
1982		G.V. Higgins Patriot Game (1985) 18: Dammit all, it’s true.
1987		B. Chatwin Songlines 118: ‘Dammit!’ said Arkady.
1997		(con. 1970s) G. Pelecanos King Suckerman (1998) 74: See that you do, damnit.
1999		Observer Rev. 4 July 10: Dammit, she’s one of only two people I’ve met here.
2000		Indep. Rev. 4 March 3: Maybe not specifically five in a bed [...] but as near as damn-it.
2000		Observer mag. 28 May 59: There are, dammit, times when discretion gives way to valour.

In phrases

near as damn it

very near, effective.

1960

F.J. Ashbee letter in Gibson Erotomaniac (2001) 133: Daddy’s as near as dammit homosexuality and mother complex.

In exclamations

dammit to hell (and back)! (also dum it to hell!)

a mild oath.

1864		A.F. Hill Our Boys 145: D--n it to h-ll! Stop that infernal firing!
1885		C.A. Siringo A Texas Cow Boy (1950) 113: Dum it to h--l, I can’t pay no such bills as those!
1998		(con. 1960s) G. Washington Blood Brothers 6: Just get me some fucking gin, dammit to hell.