▪ I. dagnab, a. and adv. U.S. colloq. (euphem., often humorous or in representations of rural speech).
Brit. /ˈdagˌnab/, U.S. /ˈdægˌnæb/
[‹ dagnab v. Compare doggone adj. and adv. and n., goldarn v. and adj. and adv.]
A. adj. = darn adj. Cf. doggone adj.
| 1934 Frederick (Maryland) Post 10 Sept. 6 (cartoon caption) I didn't know the charge was goin' to blow the whole dagnab hill clean through. 1974 J. D. MacDonald Dreadful Lemon Sky (1975) vii. 113 To each his dagnab blue-eyed own. 2004 N.Y. Times (Electronic ed.) 8 Feb. iv. 15 We shouldn't be investigating ourselves with all these dagnab, goldarn, nosy Parker commissions. |
B. adv. = darn adv. Cf. doggone adv.
| 1961 Manitowoc (Wisconsin) Herald-Times 22 Feb. 2 m/5 Yer dagnab right somebody's gonna git shot. 2001Re: Citadel of Christendom I in soc.culture.irish (Usenet newsgroup) 30 May It's pretty dagnab obvious. |
C. int. Expressing annoyance or amazement: ‘darn!’.
| 1969 Lima (Ohio) News 5 Feb. 24/8 Now don't try to tell me she would have used ‘darn’, ‘goldren’, ‘dagnab’ or ‘blankety-blank’. Such expressions are too hackneyed for words. 1997 Forward (Electronic ed.) 30 May 6 Well, dag nab, as they say down in Arkansas. 1998 G. H. Rubio Icy Sparks ix. 67 ‘Dag nab!’ I said, at that moment remembering. ‘I left my assignment at school.’ |
▪ II. dagnab, v. U.S. colloq. (euphem., often humorous or in representations of rural speech).
Brit. /ˌdagˈnab/, U.S. /ˈdægˈnæb/
[Euphemistic alteration of God damn at god n. 8a(a) Compare dod-rot v., doggone v., goldarn v. and adj. and adv.]
trans. = darn v.2 Freq. with it. Cf. dagnabbit int.
| 1916 Washington Post 13 Aug. ii. 5/5 We're prospectors, dag-nab it! 1925G. Herriman Krazy Kat 19 Apr. in B. Blackbeard Krazy Kat & Ignatz (2002) 28 (cartoon caption) He's got the edge on me, dagnab him. 1955 Nevada State Jrnl. 3 Apr. 4/4 This, dag-nab it, is the U.S.A., where price tags used to mean what they say. 2001 M. Crilley Akiko in Castle of Alia Rellapor xvi. 120 Well I'll be dagnabbed! |
Derivatives. dagnabbed adv. and adj.
| 1948 R. Moore Fire Balloon 164 Don't deserve a nice wife and baby... Come *dagnabbed near losing both of em, if you ask me. 1952 Reno (Nevada) Evening Gaz. 27 Mar. 6/4 Yew are all-fired wrong about that dod-rotted dag-nabbed gazabo. 2003 M. H. Price et al. Forgotten Horrors 3 59/1 It's another infestation of those dagnabbed Nazis. |