dog, n.¹ — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

dog n.¹

[var. on dad n.¹; dag n.³; dod n.¹; despite possibility, coinage is too early for backsl.]

(orig. UK, latterly US) a euph. for God, used in a variety of mild, semi-blasphemous oaths.

c.1550		R. Wever Lusty Juventus in Dodsley II (1874) 84: By dog’s precious wounds, that was some whoreson villain.
1893		‘Oliver Optic’ Fighting Joe (1911) 121: If yer don’t give me a civ’l answer, dog scotch me if I don’t give yer pineapple soup for supper.
1900		Bulletin (Sydney) 27 Jan. 13/1: Apparently there are some real ringers offering for the Bushman’s Contingent. One last week nearly fell down when asked if he was a bushman. ‘Why, dog-scratch-me,’ he said with a shriek of anguish, ‘I’m gidyah bred, straight from the Culgoa and no scalawag neither, but a right-down silvertail.’.
1910		Salt Lake Herald-Republican (UT) 3 July 42/1: [cartoon caption] You iss a disgrace! Ding bust your dog-rotted little hide.
1911		E.S. Sorenson ‘Shearer and Rouseabout’ in Life in the Aus. Backblocks 234: Some hardened sinner demands, ‘What d’yer call this, cook? Goat, or a hunk of a cart-’orse? Dog scratch me, it’s as tough as Mother Lord Harry!’.
1913		Van Loan ‘Won Off the Diamond’ in Lucky Seventh (2004) 271: Dog nab it!
1991		R. Dahl Vicar of Nibbleswicke 13: Dog help me!

dog-durned (adj.) (also dog blasted)

(US) a euph. for god-damned adj.

1896		H. Blossom Checkers 203: Thar ye go, with yer dog-durned laziness.
1917		A. Wright diary 12 Feb. Muddy France (1988) 3: We had the final full dress rehearsal for this dog blasted attack.

dog bite ’em! (also dog bite me! ...my ear! ...my onions! ...their hides!)

(orig. UK, latterly US) a mild, semi-blasphemous oath.

1865		G.W. Nichols Story of the Great March 44: Why, dog bite them, the newspapers have been lying all along. [...] 45: Why, dog bite their hides! one of your Yankees can take up a tree and carry it off.
1908		Bismarck Dly Tribune (ND) 23 Aug. 8/2: A southerner was once heard to use in the course of a single discussion [...] ‘dog bite ’em,’ ‘gosh all fishhooks,’ ’dat rat ’em’ and ‘jumpin’ gee whiz’.
1916		J.G. Cruickshank Black Talk 70: ‘Cat scratch ma!’ has gone out a little I think. ‘Dawg boite ma!’ is still in use. ‘Dawg boite ma, an’ sparrow blow ma!’ may be heard upon extraordinary occasion.
1923		J. Manchon Le Slang 106: Dog bite my ear!
1928		C. McKay Home to Harlem 199: Well, dawg bite me, but —.
1931		G.S. Schuyler Black No More (1971) 82: ‘Dog bite it, Doc!’ blurted Johnson.
1952		L. Hughes Laughing to Keep from Crying 63: Autumn in Reno! Dog-bite my onions! Stacks of shining silver dollars on the tables.

dog blast you!

(US) a mild, semi-blasphemous oath.

1912

Salt Lake Trib. (UT) 7 Jan. 34/1: There, dog-blast you!

dog bline me!

1943

cited in Cassidy & LePage Dict. Jam. Eng. (1980).

dogdamn it!

(US) an excl. of surprise, annoyance; a semi-euph. for god-damn it! excl.

1967		J. Schaefer Mavericks (1968) 109: ‘Dogdamn it,’ he says.
1983		P. Dexter Gods Pocket 82: ‘It’s the dog-damnest thing how I can’t remember which one of you is which’.