God damn meint.n.adj.
/ˌɡɒd ˈdam mi/, U.S. /ˌɡɑd ˈdæm mi/ A. int.
Originally: used to emphasize the truth of a statement. In later use: expressing anger, despair, frustration, etc. Cf. God damn at god n. and int. Phrases 1c(a)(iii).
ΚΠ
1596 J. Harington Apol. sig. Mvi God damne me if I loue them not, I feare more to be damned for louing them too well.
1600 B. Jonson Every Man out of his Humor Dram. Pers. sig. Aiii Carlo Buffone..A..prophane Iester; that..will..sweare to his Patrons (God dam me) he came in Oars when he was but wafted ouer in a Sculler.
1680 Earl of Rochester et al. Poems 112 God damme, cryes S——, he cannot write sense.
1776 Morning Post 14 Sept. Mr. Winter said—God damn me, I believe she had it before we left the Newcastle Coffee-house.
1889 R. L. Stevenson Master of Ballantrae xii. 316 ‘But, God damn me, the man's buried!’ cried Sir William.
1939 J. Selby Sam xix. 300 ‘Forgot the time,’ he rasped to the bowed heads. ‘Goddam me, forgot it flat. Goin' downtown.’
1977 C. Burnett Killer of Sheep xi, in P. R. Klotman Screenplays of Afr. Amer. Experience (1991) 105 That's the way I was brought up, god damn me.
2010 P. Tremblay No Sleep till Wonderland xxix. 232 ‘Man, you're good.’ He laughs, and goddamn me, now I might be blushing at his praise.
B. n.† 1. An utterance of ‘God damn me’; an imprecation, an oath. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > malediction > oaths > [interjection] > religious oaths (referring to God) > egad
by Goda1225
deusc1300
s'elpa1330
by Gogc1400
Gog of heavena1500
by cock?1548
mort dieua1593
(God) refuse me1596
God damn me1619
adad1664
agad1672
igad1672
egad1673
adod1676
ecod1677
gadso1677
ydadc1680
goles1734
s'gad1743
by (or my) gumc1815
gorblimey1896
1619 H. Hutton Follie's Anat. sig. B 2 He..Sweares a God-dam-me for the tapsters shottes.
1640 Wits Recreations sig. I4v Swears from Believe me, & Good-faith & troth, Up to God-damn-me.
1647 N. Ward Simple Cobler Aggawam 61 I would pray hard to his Maker..to save his soule, notwithstanding all his God-damne mee's.
1652 E. Peyton Divine Catastrophe Stuarts 60 The great Courtiers garnished their mouthes with God-dammees, as if they desired Damnation rather than Salvation.
1689 ‘Philopolites’ Grumbletonian Crew 3 Unless their Throats be so furred with God Dame's, that no other Oath will slip.
1745 W. Penn Call to Repentance 31 The Boys of seven Years old, that in my Time did not think upon an Oath, are now full of their God-Damn-You's and God-Damn-Mes at their Sports and Plays!
2. A person who frequently or habitually says ‘God damn me’ or (more generally) swears; spec. (among Parliamentarians in the English Civil War) a Cavalier. Also: an English person (cf. Goddam n.2); an American. Now historical.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > malediction > [noun] > one who swears or abuses
curser1303
ribalda1325
warier1382
swearerc1386
reviler1517
reproacher?1532
scogginist1593
damme1618
foulmoutha1640
God damn me1640
damner1647
juror1653
comminator1682
muck-spouta1825
guttermouth1965
potty mouth1969
1640 Wits Recreations sig. F6 What is the reason of God-dam-me's band, Inch-deep?.. God-dam-me saves a labor, understand, In pulling't off when he puts on the halter.
1643 Let. Spirituall Advice 15 If their long conversing with God-dammee's, hath not drawn such a Kawl over the hearts, that to them damnation is ridiculous.
1679 Essex's Excel. 5 Such words as only befitted a railing parson in his Pulpit, or a drunken God-damme.
1713 W. Darrell Gentleman Instructed (ed. 5) iii. vii. 430 Others were of the Town-cut, Young God-damme's that spoke ill, and liv'd worse.
1785 T. Jefferson Let. 7 June in Papers (1953) VIII. 265 What mischeif is this which is brewing anew between Faneuil hall and the nation of God-dem-mees?
1789 T. Holcroft tr. Frederick II Corr. XII. 109 You will certainly go to war with these God-damn-mes; their colonies will become independent.
1822 Recreative Rev. 3 530 No! although there were one hundred thousand more God-dam-mes in this land than there are.
1847 S. C. Reid Scouting Exped. McCulloch's Texas Rangers 77 Wasn't it a howl of madre de dios the divils set up at the ‘God-damn-me's’, as they called us.
1994 Jrnl. Brit. Stud. 33 139 There were good reasons for parliamentarians calling cavaliers ‘Goddammes’.
C. adj.
Characterized by the use of the oath ‘God damn me’. Cf. sense B. 2. Now rare.
ΚΠ
1642 N. Wharton Let. 16 Aug. in Archæologia (1853) 35 313 Our soldiers..manifested their dislike of our Lieftenant Colonell, who is a Goddamme blade and doubtlesse hatche in hell.
1643 W. Prynne Soveraigne Power Parl. i. 17 The God-dam-me Cavaliers.
1663 S. Butler Hudibras: First Pt. i. ii. 111 The Solemn League and Covenant Will seem a meer God-dam-me Rant.
1745 Brief of Persecution Methodists at Exeter 17 They were..distinguish'd by the Name of Church Rabble, or, in some Places, by the Name of the God Damme Men, or the God Damme Crew.
1928 Queen 7 Nov. 6/3 Mr. Frederick Leister was as usual convincing in the usual Leister ‘God-damn-me!’ type of part, though here the godamns were tempered with strong emotion.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2014; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
<
int.n.adj.1596