Green’s Dictionary of Slang

abbr. of damn n.

1867		Sportsman 31 Oct. 2/1: Notes on News [...] [I]t would, like the ordinary ‘D’ with a blank after it, represent the emphatic ‘D’.
1878		W.S. Gilbert H.M.S. Pinafore 7: Bad language or abuse / I never, never use, / Whatever the emergency, / Though ‘Bother it,’ I may / Occasionally say, / I never use a big, big D—.
1880		Bulletin (Sydney) 9 Oct. 8/1: Luscombe Searell [...] the eminent pianist had to pay the cab fare 9s. 9d., and costs £3 5s. 6d. He surely uttered a big, big D.
1882		E.V. Page ‘It’s Enough to Make a Parson Swear’ 🎵 I express my sorrow with a big, big D, / It’s enough to make a parson swear!
1882		Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 24 June 3/2: There's Maggie Duggan kicking a slipper into the audience every night and all the fools ‘with a big, big D’ [...] drinking wine out of It after the show.
1889		Newcastle Morn. Herald (NSW) 19 Jan. 11/4: The listening ‘bobby’ drops a tear, / And refuses those big, big D’s to hear, / Lest he for ‘langwidge’ should run ’em in.
1890		Dead Bird (Sydney) 7 June 4/4: That every member of the League be allowed to use a small d— instead of ‘bless me’ when put out.
1891		‘’Arry on Arrius’ in Punch 26 Dec. 302/2: And yer ‘H-heah! H-hold my H-h-horse!’ sort o’ sniffers would screw hout big D.’s from a saint.
1894		Truth (Sydney) 8 Apr. 1/8: One who used to visibly shudder if anyone let out a big, big D in his immediate vicinity.
1900		Punch 14 Feb. 116/2: They give, not a d., but a piece of their mind.
1912		H. Lawson ‘Grandfather’s Courtship’ in Roderick (1972) 857: I don’t care a D what this cynical age might think.