od, n. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

od n.

also odd, ond

a general euph. for God, used in oaths, e.g. od rot it! ; usu. found in a variety of possessive combinations (see ods n.).

1715		S. Centlivre Gotham Election I i: Od wou’d you had her, Mr. Friendly.
1732		Harlot’s Progress 7: What pretty Maidens, pr’ythee, have ye / Brought up to Town? — Children, Odd save ye!
1775		Sheridan Rivals (1776) I i: Odd! Sir Anthony will stare to see the Captain here!
1786		Young Coalman’s Courtship 3: Od! I never got sic fun.
1812		J. Bell Jr. (ed.) Rhymes of Northern Bards 25: Od smash! what a buck was Bob Cranky.
1828		Belfast News-Letter 30 Jan. 4/3: ‘Od! James [...] I dare say, if the moon was to fall [...] ye would say no more than “It’s gey and queerish”’.
1858		R.S. Surtees Ask Mamma 374: ‘Ond dom it!’ shrieked the Baronet.
1859		Hotten Dict. of Modern Sl. etc. 70: Od drat it, OD’S BLOOD and all other exclamations commencing with OD, are nothing but softened or suppressed oaths. OD is a corruption of GOD.
1866		Stirling Obs. 5 July 6/3: ‘’Od but my hear nearly louped off the bit’.
1873		Dundee Courier 14 Jan. 7/3: ‘Od, ye’re an awfu’ body, Wattie,’ replied the landlady, laughing.
1877		‘Tam Gibb & the Sow’ Laughing Songster 147: Odd, she was the most positive b---h o’ a sow.
1881		Dundee Courier 11 Jan. 7/3: Od, ye nearly ca’d the wig aff me.

In phrases

od(d) burn it! (excl.)

a mild oath.

1885

Sheffield Wkly Teleg. 21 Mar. 3/4: ‘Od burn it, does he want a penny [...] drat him’’.

od rot it! (also add rabbit! ...rot it! odd rot it! od(d) rabbit! ...rat it! ...rut it! ord rot it!)

a mild oath, lit. God rot it!

1719		in D’Urfey Pills to Purge Melancholy I 353: Odrabit it, they Pay, / And all are benefactors to the Play.
1749		Fielding Tom Jones (1959) 280: ‘Odrabbit it!’ cries the squire.
1751		Smollett Peregrine Pickle (1964) 158: Add rabbit him! I doubt not but you found his admonitions deadly comfortable!
1756		W. Toldervy Hist. of the Two Orphans II 53: Od rot it! I have two keys in my pocket, and have done blunders with ’em both.
1775		Sheridan Rivals (1776) I i: When I heard how the lawyers and doctors had took to their own hair, I thought how ’twould go next: – Odd rabbit it! when the fashion had got foot on the Bar, I guessed ’twould mount to the Box!
1785		M. Lonsdale Spanish Rivals II i: But, Odd-rabbit me, if I ever catch you in Cumberland!
1794		Sporting Mag. Apr. IV 62/1: ’Od rat it, no pity had they on the Scraper!
1796		Sporting Mag. Aug. VIII 274/1: Od rabbit you!
1796		Sporting Mag. Nov. IX 108/1: ‘Odd rot it!’ says Derby, ‘why Joan you’re stark mad!’.
1797		Hants. Chron 2 Dec. 4/1: We’ll waltz and astonish the natives, ’od rot ’em.
1800		G. Colman Yngr Heir at Law I ii: Od rabbit it, girl! I be only chicken-hearted on your account.
1812		W.S. ‘Tale of Drury Lane’ in Smith Rejected Addresses 55: What are they fear’d on? fools! ’od rot ’em!
1815		D. Roberts Military Adventures of Johnny Newcome II 73: The boy’s half-stav’d—o’drat that cursed Spain.
1820		W. Combe Doctor Syntax, Consolation (1868) 191/2: ‘It was not me,’ said Pat, ‘’od rot it, / I was in hopes she had forgot it.’.
1822		J. Catnach St James’s Looking Glass 1: Kum-up Motley, keep together, odd Rat ye, or I’ll lay it into ye!
1830		Hull Packet 23 Mar. 3/3: ‘Od rot and sink it’ said he.
1836		Comic Almanack May 54: Being at the wing, quoth Higgs, aside, ‘Od ’rat it!’ [Ibid.] July 60: warren’s jet is the blacking you choose; / But od ’rabbit that Warren! say I.
1842		J. Labern ‘Receipts for a Cold’ Comic Songs 17: Troubled with Phlegm in your throat odd rut it, / A Carving Knife swallow, it’s the finest thing to Cut it.
1843		W.L. Rede Our Village I ii: Odd rat it!
1845		R.S. Surtees Hillingdon Hall II 77: ‘Ord rot it, ’old your noise, Binjimin!’ roared Mr. Jorrocks.
1846		Durivage & Burnham Stray Subjects (1848) 57: —’od rot him! Oh—th-under!
1852		Bell’s Life in Sydney 10 Apr. 3/2: Kind friends ‘od rot it’.
1854		Bell’s Life in Sydney 25 Mar. 2/5: ‘Od’ rabbit it,’ replied the venerable, particularly wrath.
1856		in J. Strang Glasgow and Its Clubs 574: Od! I ken a black-a-viced chield that maun be shaved twice a-day.
1858		R.S. Surtees Ask Mamma 368: ‘Ord rot it!’ exclaimed he, starting round.
1859		G.A. Sala Gaslight and Daylight 109: I took up along with Powder Dick, here, and, rabbit him, I a’most keeps him.
1859		Hotten Dict. of Modern Sl. etc. 70: OD DRAT IT, od’s blood, and all other exclamations commencing with od, are nothing but softened or suppressed oaths.
1861		(con. 1840s–50s) H. Mayhew London Labour and London Poor I 237/2: Why flog ’em and ’od ’rot em.
1870		Hotten Sl. Dict. 191: od rabbit.
1877		Leeds Times 3 Nov. 7/6: Od rot it [...] how that man squints!
1888		Dover Exp. 2 Mar. 2/5: [He] cried, ‘Od rot it! It’s come again! My hat! My coat! I’m off!’.
1888		S.O. Addy Sheffield Gloss. 162: Od Rabbit It, an oath.
1896		G.F. Northall Warwickshire Word-Book 186: ‘Od rabbit it’ and ‘Od drabbit it’ are other forms.
1900		Sporting Times 20 Jan. 2/2: These cussed Boers have got me, straight, / I’m commandeered—’od rot ’em!
1909		J. Ware Passing Eng. of the Victorian Era 113/1: Dod rabbit it (Amer.). In Charles II’s time it was God rebate (assuage) it. This passed finally in England into ‘Od rabbit it’. Going over to America the phrase was there further changed.