blimey

alternative blimy

1. CommonwealthIrelandUKUsed to express anger, excitement, surprise, etc.First known use late 19th c.

   Blimey! I didn’t see that!

   5 more examples

   Blimey! Where did you come from?

   I know the chap that started the lie. There ain't no Invisible Man whatsoever—Blimey.

   1897, H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, “At Port Stowe”, in The Invisible Man: A Grotesque Romance, New York, N.Y.; London: Harper & Brothers Publishers, →OCLC, page 120

   'But, if there's room, aren't they bound to take me in?' / 'Course they are,—and, blimey, if I was you I'd make 'em. Blimey I would!'

   1897 September, Richard Marsh [pseudonym; Richard Bernard Heldmann], “Outside”, in The Beetle: A Mystery, London: T[homas] Fisher Unwin […], published August 1907, →OCLC, book I (The House with the Open Window), page 4

   Blimy if I don't believe 'e's taking 'ome 'is washing up his back.

   1908 September, Jerome K[lapka] Jerome, “Passing of the Third Floor Back”, in Passing of the Third Floor Back, New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead and Company, →OCLC, page 2

   If you're the O'Reilly, they speak of so highly, / Why blime me, O'Reilly, you're doing quite well.

   cover title: Blime Me Mr. O’Reilly but You’re Looking Mighty Well

   1915, Harry S. Miller, “Blime Me, O’Reilly (You’re Doing Quite Well) [cover title: Blime Me Mr. O’Reilly but You’re Looking Mighty Well]”, New York, N.Y.: The Cadillac Music; Springfield, Mass.; Chicago, Ill.: A. H. Goetting, →OCLC, page 5

   Synonyms: wow, adzooks, ay, caramba, mirabile dictu, chihuahua, begorra, bleeding heck