damn v.
1. an all-purpose profanity, used in a wide variety of contexts.
![[UK]](/static/img/flags/uk.png "United Kingdom") | Every Man Out of his Humour IV iv: O, d--n me! immortality! | |
| Wily Beguiled 31: Nay, Damne me if I be: / By heavens, sweet Nymph I am not. | |
| Duchess of Malfi IV i: Damn her! | |
| An Evening’s Love II i: Damn him, let’s fall on then. | |
| The Woman Turn’d Bully I ii: If you have to do with a Coachman or a Mechanick, you must be at it with Damn me ye Son of a Tinker. | |
![[Ire]](/static/img/flags/ire.png "Ireland") | The Art of Wheedling 202: He swears dam him. | |
| The Soldier’s Fortune III i: Damn her! I shall never enjoy her without ravishing. | |
| Wonder! V ii: Damn your pipe, Sir. I won’t smoke, I hate tobacco. | |
| Authentick Memoirs of Sally Salisbury 12: D--n you for a Pimp. | |
| Hist. of Highwaymen &c 346: D--n you, said he. | |
| His Account 22 Nov. 18/1: Damn you, what ails you, you have no Mind to get Money? | |
| Peregrine Pickle (1964) 30: D---n ye, ye jury-legged dog, you would give all the stowage in your hold to be as sound as I am. | |
| Proceedings Old Bailey 6 July 246/1: D – n you, Green, where is your powder and ball. | |
| The Rivals (1776) I i: But d--m the place, I’m tired of it. | |
| ‘The Proker’ Songs (publ. Newry) 7: D--n you, you Bitch. | |
| Observer 4 Dec. 3: Why, d--- me, almost the whole of his property is a Coal mine. | |
 | Lilliputian Substitutes, Equipping for Public Service (cartoon) 28 May : Ah, Damn his narrow pumps! I shall never be able to bear them long on my Corns! | |
| Spirit of Irish Wit 117: ‘D—n your blood, do you mean to gibbet me in a jest book? [...] be d—d to you’. | |
| Last Act in New British Theatre II iii: Damn Shakespeare! | |
| Real Life in London 1 385: D---n me if I would give a pair of crazy crabshells without vamp or whelt for the whole boiling of ’em—there is not one of ’em worth a bloody jemmy. | |
| Mr Mathews’ Comic Annual 23: I’m the lad – the fancy chap – the knowing one – damme pipps! I’m known by the cognomen of Jack Shepherd or Sixteen String Jack damme pipps. I’m rumpty tum with the chill off, dam’me pipps! | |
| Cockney Adventures 9 Dec. 48: D--n me, Ned, I wish you’d blackened t’other eye for him, the scamp. | |
| London Assurance Act II: sir harcourt: Oh, damn Jenks! meddle: Sir, thank you. Damn him again, sir, damn him again. | |
![[US]](/static/img/flags/us.png "United States") | G’hals of N.Y. 200: D---n the fellow! | |
| Ask Mamma 242: ‘Dom you and your b-a-r-r-n!’ he exclaimed. | |
| (con. 1840s–50s) London Labour and London Poor III 350/1: I’ve heard my father and his mates say many a time, ‘D--n Pitt!’. | |
| Manchester Eve. News 17 Apr. 4/3: Damn her skin, whoever she is! | |
| Mohawks III 105: Damn the world! | |
| The Powers That Prey 172: I don’t want to hear a word about difficulties. Damn the difficulties. | |
| An Enemy to Society 20: Damn you, I hate you all! | |
| letter 21 July in Read Letters to James Joyce (1968) 31: I can send the two poems to that Chicago rag if you can stand it. They pay, dammm ’em. | |
| Carry on, Jeeves 3: [He] said ‘Eggs! Eggs! Eggs! Damn all eggs!’ in an overwrought sort of voice. | |
| They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? in Four Novels (1983) 7: Damn that bus. | |
| Decadence in Decadence and Other Plays (1985) 15: Damn me if the blighter didn’t just go and buy a bloody new one. |
2. as past participle of sense 1; usu. as damned if... or ...be damned (cf. I’ll be damned! ).
| Female Wits in Female Wits (1981) III i: Dinner be damned! I’ll never eat more. | |
| Roderick Random (1979) 157: You and your list may be d--n’d, (said the captain, throwing it at him) I say, there shall be no sick in this ship. | |
| Bath Chron. 19 Sept. 2/2: He resolutely struck the pistol aside, and bid him shoot and be d—n’d. | |
| ‘Shelburne Threat’ in Hiltner Newspaper Verse (1986) 428: May I be d---d, (this dreadful oath he swore, / And stamp’d indignant on his cabin floor) [...] Starve and be d---d shall be the word. | |
| Westmoreland Gaz. 20 Oct. 1/4: As to the coppers, you may give ’em to her [...] to buy gin, and be d—d to her. | |
| Nottingham Rev. 7 Aug. 2/4: ‘Oh be d—d! I shall not give you more thanb another sovereign’. | |
![[Aus]](/static/img/flags/aus.png "Australia") | ‘ Week in Oxford’ in Bell’s Life in Sydney 8 Nov. 4/1: The other [freshman], still more plucky, said, ‘I don’t come out to be damned.’ ‘Then go home and be damned,’ rejoined the son of Nimrod. | |
| Ask Mamma 226: I’ll mount you on the Tuesday – dom’d if I won’t – and that’ll make it all right. | |
| Recollections of G. Hamlyn (1891) 25: Why the devil do you bring me out here in the middle of the moor? [...] D----d if I understand it. | |
| (con. 1840s–50s) London Labour and London Poor I 249/2: Authorised be d---d! | |
| Black-Eyed Beauty 42: D----- if I wouldn’t look at him all night if he’d money out for me! | |
| Trilby 338: Twelfth-century dukedoms be damned! | |
| ‘Babies in the Bush’ in Roderick (1972) 404: ‘They don’t matter much, do they, Jack?’ ‘Damned if I think they do, Boss.’. | |
| Such is Life 143: D---d if I know whether I got any. | |
| Ulysses 280: I was just passing the time of day with old Troy of the D. M. P. at the corner of Arbour hill there and be damned but a bloody sweep came along and he near drove his gear in my eye. | |
| Walls Of Jericho 233: ‘You better go see a doctor and make sure you’re all right.’ Damned if he would. | |
| ‘A Man Called Spade’ Nightmare Town (2001) 302: ‘Let’s look you over for scratches.’ [...] ‘Damned if you will!’. | |
![[Can]](/static/img/flags/can.png "Canada") | Whiteoak Heritage (1949) 61: ‘Mrs. Clinch doesn’t like it.’ ‘Mrs. Clinch be damned.’. | |
| Big Heat 37: ‘When did she leave?’ ‘Damned if I know, Sergeant.’. | |
| Crust on its Uppers 115: Damned if I wanter go out. | |
| (con. 1969) Dispatches 26: He goes up there himself and damned if the fucker didn’t get zapped. | |
| Glitter Dome (1982) 197: ‘What do they cost?’ ‘Damned if I know.’. |
In phrases
a general intensifier, extremely, very, to a great extent.
| Stray Subjects (1848) 30: She’s as sober as be d---d’ when she gets the shop – that’s what I call the hearse – behind her. | |
| ‘Only a Subaltern’ in Under the Deodars 111: ‘But they were as fit as be-damned when I left them!’ said Bobby. ‘Then you'd better make them as fit as bedamned when you rejoin,’ said the Major brutally. | |
| Cheltenham Looker-On 23 Mar. 4/3: He [...] was as a calm as bedamned. | |
| Best Plays of 1927 9 378: Corporal Stoddart — Whoy the ’ell did she gow to the window! Is she dead? Sergeant Tinley — Ow, dead as bedamned. | |
| Hartlepool Mail 1 Aug. 2/4: ‘Then may I ask,’ says he, as polite as be-damned , ‘who has them?’. | |
| Garden to Eastward 185: You're fit as bedamned. Have you lost the dark fetches that came by you? | |
| Midsummer Malice 139: He is as mean as bedamned over little things, but when something serious happens he is like the old Timmy. | |
| Tailor & Ansty 90: We had songs and recitations, and all was going as well as bedamned until one fellow started to take a sup out of Kruger’s share of the drink. | |
| A Life (1981) Act I: You’re as prickly as bedamned: it’s like talking to a gorse bush. |
provocative.
| London Dly News 18 Feb. 7/4: Thou, Westminster’s darling! — who once used to utter short damn-your-eyes speeches. | |
| (con. 1843) White-Jacket (1990) 312: What man-of-war’s-men call a damn-my-eyes-tar, that is, a humbug. And many damn-my-eyes humbugs there are in this man-of-war world of ours. | |
| Shellback 16: I ought to be marled in a blue coat [...] with a tall complexioned hat and a ‘d--n my eyes’ necktie. | |
| S.F. Call 22 June 6/4: An’ the rest o’ the trip, dammy eyes, if I don’t let him slap around wit’ a lightweight paint-brush. | |
| Tell England (1965) 158: He made a peculiarly effective exit, his hat tilted at what he called a ‘damn-your-eyes’ angle. | |
| (con. 1930s) Bloods 67: Building up a damn-your-eyes attitude towards any enemy who might come their way. |
In exclamations
an excl. implying one’s absolute refusal to do something.
| Dict. of the Turf, the Ring, the Chase, etc. |
an excl. of irritation, impatience, annoyance etc., also used attrib.
| Proceedings Old Bailey 6 Sept. 216/1: Damn your Eyes, says he, what Money have you about you? | |
| Life of Jonathan Wild (1784) I 131: D--n your eyes, if this be your way of shewing your love. | |
| Peregrine Pickle (1964) 9: If so be, as this be the case, there is a rotten plank in our constitution, which ought to be hove down and repaired, damn my eyes! | |
![[Scot]](/static/img/flags/sco.png "Scotland") | Scots Mag. 6 June 39/2: ‘D—n my eyes and limbs, bit here I’ll have a double pot of beer’. | |
| Proceedings Old Bailey 6 July 251/2: He called, d—n his eyes, I have him now, and fired his piece at him. | |
| Humphrey Clinker (1925) I 197: D--n my eyes! there will be nothing but snivelling in the cart. | |
| Proceedings Old Bailey 25 Apr. 245/2: He swore, D – n his eyes, he would take it, for there might be money in it. | |
| Sporting Mag. Aug. IV 270/1: D---n my eyes, you may do what you please with the leg. | |
| Abuses of Justice 30: Damn your eyes, you bloody thief. | |
| The Fudge Family in Paris in Poetical Works Letter VIII 154: D---n my eyes. | |
| ‘Jacko and Judas’ Slops Shave at a Broken Hone 21: Off, Johnny Raw! off, lubber! d---n my eyes. | |
| ‘Going To Be Confirmed’ Luscious Songster 13: My mother declares, d--m her eyes, it’s no farce. | |
| ‘Morton’ An Old Sailor’s Yarns 308: Here he is, d--n his eyes! | |
| ‘She Sleeps With A Tall Grenadier’ The Gentleman’s Spicey Songster 23: It’s too bad, if it a’nt d--m my eyes. | |
| Satirist & Sporting Chron. (Sydney) 4 Feb. 2/1: D—n your eyes if you don’t pack that wood I’ll break your b—y neck. | |
| Hertford Mercury & Reformer 9 Jan. 3/3: I heard Cornelius say to the other [...] ‘D— your eyes, stand still’. | |
| Moby Dick (1907) 215: Damn your eyes! what’s that pump stopping for? | |
| Green Mountain Freeman (Montpelier, VT) 2 Feb. 1/3: D—n my eyes! must I bear this? | |
| Seven Curses of London 291: D--- your eyes, let us have some more gin! | |
| Love Afloat 186: D--n my eyes, you ought to be squeezed! | |
| Newcastle Courant 16 Sept. 6/5: D— you eyes, why don’t you mind where you’re tearing to. | |
| Sporting Times 1 Jan. 1/3: Peter exploded with: ‘Damn your eyes!’. | |
| in Erotic Muse (1992) 47: My name it is Sam Hall, chimney sweep, (2) / My name it is Sam Hall, and I tell you one and all / That you’re buggers great and small. / Damn your eyes. | |
| Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man 92: Will you tell Doyle with my best compliments that I damned his eyes? answered Heron. | |
| ‘The Contract of Corporal Twing’ in O’Brien & Cournos Best Short Stories 336: ‘Damn your eyes then!’ a boyish voice sounded above the clatter of feet. | |
| Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day (2000) 178: ‘I went to a doctor,’ said Rosie gloomily. ‘Damn his eyes. White meat. Chicken! I ask you?’. | |
| Yorks. Post 12 Sept. 5/1: Mr Churchill’s statement [was] described as truculent, swash-buckling and damn-your-eyes in tone. | |
| ‘If An In-Law Meet An Outlaw’ in Keep It Crisp 156: Damn my eyes, sir, she was as pretty as a peony. | |
| (con. 1936–46) Winged Seeds (1984) 54: ‘Damn his eyes,’ he said, with suitable indignation. | |
| All These Condemned (2001) 138: And, damn her eyes, she’s picked that one thing to work on. | |
| ‘Sam Hall’ in Bawdy Songs and Backroom Ballads 47: He looked so bloody glum as he talked of Kingdom Come. / He can kiss my ruddy bum, damn his eyes. | |
| Picture Palace 244: You’re the one who ruined me, damn your eyes. | |
| (con. 1940s–60s) ‘Sammy Hall’ in More Snatches and Lays 39: My name is Sammy Hall, and I’ve only got one ball – / But it’s better than none at all / Damn your eyes, blast your soul. | |
| (con. 1860s) Dan Leno and the Limehouse Golem 175: So I spit on all your prayers / Damn your eyes. |
an excl. of annoyance, surprise, irritation etc.
| Ipswich Jrnl 23 Nov. 2/1: But the fellow, so far from thanking him, said ‘Let her sink and be damn’d if she will’. | |
| Peregrine Pickle (1964) 246: The voice of Tom Pipes, pronouncing ‘I’ll be damned if I do’. | |
| A Trip to Scarborough I ii: Why, then, my Lord, if those shoes pinch you, I’ll be d--n’d. | |
| Pettyfogger Dramatized I i: I’ll be damn’d, my dear Bobby, if I have not parted with the last shilling. | |
| Real Life in Ireland 170: I’ll be damned if I care. | |
| Westward Ho! I 45: No, I’ll be damned if I do! | |
| Clockmaker (1843) I 57: I’ll be d---d, said he, if ever I saw a Yankee that didn’t bolt his food. | |
| Cockney Adventures 16 Dec. 52: I’m d----d if it an’t one of them flats we had a lark with in the gardens. | |
| Odd Fellow (London) 18 Sept. 1/4: I’ll have it out of him; I’m d—d if I don’t. | |
| Worcester Chron. 17 Oct. 4/4: M. Renaud asked him [...] if he would sign the cheque [...] he said, ’I’ll be damned!’. | |
| Autobiog. of a Female Slave 169: No, I be d----d if you shall, you rascally free nigger. | |
| ‘Scolding Wife’ Bob Smith’s Clown Song and Joke Bk 45: Says she, ‘you must father these two little dears,’ / But says I, ‘I’ll be damned if I do’. | |
| N.Y. World in Gangs of N.Y. 61: Kit said, ‘I’m damned if some of the people that come here oughtn’t to be clubbed [...] I must be damned good looking to have so many fine fellows looking at me.’. | |
| Roughing It 45: ‘Well, if that don’t go clean ahead of me, I’m d---d!’. | |
| Chicago Trib. 13 Sept. 3/1: ‘I’ll be d—d if I don’t believe it’. | |
| Bulletin (Sydney) 17 Jan. 13/4: But when the P.M. informed the Court that the fine would be 5s. or in default two hours in the public stocks, Sun Chong planked down the cash, and [...] yelled out: ‘Well, I’m d---d! | |
| My Secret Life (1966) III 529: My blood rose, I’d be damned if I would. | |
| A Pink ’un and a Pelican 161: ‘Well, I’m d------d!’ he cried, ‘Jim Fletcher!’. | |
| In Bad Company 13: Well, I’m d---d! | |
| Lighter Side of School Life 102: I’ll be damned if I take it lying down! | |
| Penny Showman 21: I’ll be damned if you hadn’t got two large rings on each hand on the outside of your gloves. | |
| Brooklyn Murders (1933) 59: I tell you I’m damned if I’ll stand it. | |
| Me – Gangster 77: I’ll be double damned if I’ll have your bum pugs creepin’ around here. | |
| Iron Man 247: ‘Well, I’ll be damned,’ said Coke. | |
| G.S. Schuyler Black No More (1971) 71: Damnify could ever understand how such ignorant people get a-hold of th’ money. | |
| A Rope of Sand (1947) 142: ‘I’ll be double damned’, I said aloud. | |
| Otterbury Incident 60: ‘Well, I’ll be damned!’ exclaimed Rickie. | |
| Bullets For The Bridegroom (1953) 18: And I’m damned if I can see what business it is of yours or anyone else’s. | |
| Long Wait (1954) 38: I’ll be damned! I’ll be good and goddamned! | |
| Corner Boy 92: Well, I’ll be damn. | |
| (con. 1944) Rats in New Guinea 41: Well, I’ll be damned. | |
| Gaily, Gaily 44: I’ll be Goddamned. That was Gus Plotka on the deathwatch. He says Fred Ludwig wants to confess. [Ibid.] 152: ‘I’ll be damned,’ said Mr. Mahoney. | |
| Tourist Season (1987) 143: ‘I’ll be damned, a cover-up!’ Wiley exclaimed. | |
| Lucky You 329: ‘I’ll be damned,’ he said. | |
| Robbers (2001) 225: He passed the second patrol car and wrecker and stopped. saying, I’ll be damned. |