Learn English – Origin of “blimey”

etymologyslang

According to Etymonline:

(It is also used in excitement.)

blimey

by 1889, probably a corruption of (God) blind me! First attested in a slang dictionary which defines it as "an apparently meaningless, abusive term."

Etymonline includes the date of origin as 1889 but doesn't cite the first usage. What slang dictionary it is referring to? Is it possible to find more details and the first usage of the word?

Best Answer

The OED entry goes for either blind me or blame me.

Vulgar corruption of the imprecation blind me! or blame me! (blame v. 7a). (Cf. gorblimey int.)>

1889 in A. Barrère & C. G. Leland Dict. Slang s.v.

1894 Punch 27 Oct. 193/1 Blymy, you're a knockout!

1897 W. S. Maugham Liza of Lambeth ix. 153 Bli' me if I know wot yer all talkin' abaht.

1922 J. Joyce Ulysses ii. xii. [Cyclops] 297 God blimey if she aint a clinker... Blimey it makes me kind of bleeding cry.

1932 Punch Almanack 1933 7 Nov. [18/1] ‘Your mentality is erroneous and—er—soggy. Blime! what a cod!’ he concluded.

1954 ‘R. Crompton’ William & Moon Rocket viii. 235 ‘Blimey!’ said Charlemagne. ‘Pardon him, dear,’ said Miss Milton in a shaking voice. ‘He doesn't often use bad language.’

And for Gorblimey

Vulgar corruption of the imprecation God blind me! See also quots. 1919, 1925.>

1896 A. Morrison Child of Jago i. 16 Gawblimy, not what?

1909 J. R. Ware Passing Eng. Gorblimy (about 1875). A gutter phrase.

1911 L. Stone Jonah i. ix. 105 ‘Gorblimey! A knock-out!’..Stinky, with a haphazard blow, had given Chook the dreaded knock-out.

1914 T. A. Baggs Back from Front xix. 92 Gor blimey, 'ow are ye, then, old townie?

1915 A. D. Gillespie Let. 27 Mar. in Lett. from Flanders (1916) 74
Most of the infantry now wear the soft ‘Gor'bli'me’ hat which looks horrid, but does not give such a mark as the flat-topped ‘Brodrick’.

1918 W. J. Locke Rough Road v. 51 ‘Gorblime!’ said Chipmunk, ‘that's the first I 'eard of it.’

1919 War Terms in Athenæum 8 Aug. 729/1 ‘Gor-blimey’, a soft service cap.

1925 E. Fraser & J. Gibbons Soldier & Sailor Words Gorblimey... An exclamation or adjective of emphasis. A ‘Gorblimey’ was the common colloquial term for an unwired, floppy, field-service cap worn by a certain type of subaltern in defiance of the Dress Regulations. Lines from a song, popular before the War, ran:—‘He wears Gorblimey trousers An a little Gorblimey 'at.’

1956 J. Masters Bugles & Tiger 49 A tweed gorblimey cap worn well forward on the head.

1958 Oxf. Mag. 27 Feb. 326/1 The British and American tendency is to emphasise the Gorblimey aspect of history, the feelings of the ordinary man on the spot at the time.

1962 Listener 31 May 967/1 She offered a gorblimey cheerfulness.

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