stap my vitals!, excl. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

stap my vitals! excl.

also stap my breath! stop my vitals! stop my vital breath!

[SE stop; the first printed use as ‘stap’ appears in the play The Relapse, or, Virtue in Danger (1697), by John Vanbrugh; it is spoken by Lord Foppington, among whose affectations is the consistent pron. of ‘o’ as ‘a’]

an oath popular among upper-class dandies.

1696		Character of the Beaux 17: O, Madam, I’m almost suffocated; stop my Vitals!
1697		Vanbrugh Relapse III i: It shew such a monstrous pair of Cheeks, stap my Vitals.
1700		T. Brown Amusements Serious and Comical in Works (1744) III 39: New-invented curses, as, Stap my vitals, damn my diaphragm, slit my windpipe, sink me ten thousand fathom-deep.
1704		Cibber Careless Husband V iii: Stap my breath, but Lady Easy is an Admirable Discoverer.
1751		Smollett Peregrine Pickle (1964) 381: The old fellow grows scurrilous, stap my breath.
1756		W. Toldervy Hist. of the Two Orphans III 158: Not I, says she, you black-guard, I go with a man that has a wife at home! not I, stap my vitals.
1777		Sheridan Trip to Scarborough I ii: In love with them, stap my vitals!
1821		W. Scott Pirate (1822) III 279: I will mutiny none, and stap my vitals if any of you shall.
1822		W. Scott Peveril of the Peak II 305: ‘Stop my vital breath,’ he exclaimed, ‘but I have seen you before, my friend.’.
1830		Lytton Paul Clifford I 109: ‘Well-’gad now,’ said he, stopping ever and anon, as if to laugh the more heartily, ‘Stap my vitals, but you are a comical quiz.’.
1851		Dublin Wkly Nation 18 Jan. 11/2: This is a farce, says Beau Tibbs [...] why isn’t it a tragedy, or an epic poem, stap my vitals!
1866		(ref. to early 18C) Sheffield Dly Teleg. 11 Sept. 7/2: In Colly Cibbr’s days the young beaux [...] invented wild oaths such as ‘Stap my vitals,’ ‘Burn my liver,’ and ‘Scorch me’.
1886		M.E. Braddon Mohawks III 24: Stap my vitals if I have not been between laughing and crying all the evening.
1890		(ref. to 1697) Star (Guernsey) 11 Mar. 4/3: Lord Foppington himself was content with ‘Stap my vitals’.
1902		(con. 18C) Pittsburg Press (PA) 16 May 6/6: ‘Stap my vitals, captain, here’s an intruder’.
1912		P.C. Wren Dew & Mildew 234: ‘Stap my Vitals! You can also Rabbit Me while you are about it’.
1915		Wodehouse Psmith Journalist (1993) 267: Why, gadzooks! Not to mention stap my vitals!
1922		Joyce Ulysses 387: Stap my vitals, said he.
1934		Wodehouse Right Ho, Jeeves 118: Stap my vitals, Tuppoy, old corpse.
1956		W. Burroughs letter 16 Sept. in Harris (1993) 326: Suddenly a wave of sex comes over me and I have a spontaneous orgasm stap my vitals.