Green’s Dictionary of Slang

a semi-euph. excl., i.e. God!

c.1607		Beaumont & Fletcher Knight of the Burning Pestle Prologue B2: By Gad, if any of them all blow winde in the taile on him, I’ll be hang’d.
1676		Etherege Man of Mode I i: Gad, I was up before four o’clock this morning.
1693		Congreve Old Bachelor II ii: O gad, you are quite spoiled!
1707		Farquhar Beaux’ Strategem V ii: My hated husband abroad, and my lovely fellow at my feet! O ’gad, sister!
1722		S. Centlivre Artifice Act V: Oh Gad! You stop one’s Breath.
1733		Fielding Don Quixote III xv: Symptoms! Gad, here are Symptoms for you.
1792		C. Dibdin ‘Tight Little Peter’ Buck’s Delight 30: Gad, we’ll have rare fun!
1806		G. Colman Yngr John Bull II i: Gad, I’m sorry if —.
1824		R.B. Peake Americans Abroad II ii: Gad! he had not any occasion to say it twice.
1832		Spirit of the Times (NY) 14 Apr. 2/6: ‘Gas so (said Ned) I forgot my fool’s dress’.
1838		Dickens Oliver Twist (1966) 266: Gad, that’s true!
1840		Lytton Money V i: Gad, my blood’s up and I won’t be tweated in this way.
1861		Hills & Plains I 113: ‘Gad! it came to the Governor-Genera’'s ears’.
1866		Night Side of N.Y. 54: ‘Gad! whenever two Dutchmen meet then comes the lager,’ George Christy used to say.
1877		J. Greenwood Dick Temple I 271: Gad, you know, it is something horrible to sit here. [Ibid.] III 202: By Gad! what a fool the woman is!
1885		Bulletin (Sydney) 4 Apr. 18/1: Gad! how resentment rages, / And how revenge will rankle, / If dangerous symptoms show / In Mr. Marchant’s ankle!
1890		Sporting Times 4 Jan. 1: Gad! What a splendid gate-money meeting you could get up here.
1903		A.H. Lewis Boss 279: You’d wonder, gad! to see how frugal the old gentleman has grown in his old age.
1917		‘Henry Handel Richardson’ Aus. Felix (1971) 103: A rare joke—gad, it’s enough to make you burst your sides!
1929		E. Dahlberg Bottom Dogs 207: Gad, what a business, panhandling, he wasn’t even good at at that.
1940		M. de la Roche Whiteoak Heritage (1949) 228: ‘Gad!’ he exclaimed, ‘that girl can ride!’.
1955		P. Rabe Benny Muscles In (2004) 238: ‘You need a pop, don’t you?’ [...] ‘Gad, yes!’.
1959		J. Osborne World of Paul Slickey Act II: Gad, Ethel, you haven’t changed much.
1960		G. Swarthout Where the Boys Are 29: Gads, what beauty! It was mystic.
1961		H.S. Thompson in Proud Highway (1997) 303: Gad, I thought. What a hideous joke!
1963		F. Kohner Affairs of Gidget 87: Gads, what kind of set-up had I wriggled my way into?
1967		E. Shepard Doom Pussy 244: Onions for breakfast. Gads!
1986		R.G. Barrett Godson 59: ‘Gad! It’s all too ghastly to even contemplate’.