Dictionary.com
definitions
  • synonyms

blimey

or bli·my

[blahy-mee]
See more synonyms for blimey on Thesaurus.com
interjection British Informal.
  1. (used to express surprise or excitement.)
Show More

Origin of blimey

1885–90; orig. reduced form of blind me, as ellipsis from God blind me; cf. gorblimey
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for blimey

Historical Examples

  • "Blimey, I can't stick this," and perched himself on the parados.

    500 of the Best Cockney War Stories

    Various

  • Turning to his mates he exclaimed, "Blimey, me brother's been an' split on me."

  • Blimey, I feel as if I could push a leave train from 'ere to the base.

  • Blimey, if I wasnt beginnin to think we was the sole survivors.

    Grapes of wrath

    Boyd Cable

  • Blimey, they'll shake the country to pieces—and scare the ducks.

    The Red Horizon

    Patrick MacGill

British Dictionary definitions for blimey

blimey

interjection
  1. British slang an exclamation of surprise or annoyance
Show More

Word Origin

C19: short for gorblimey God blind me
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for 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."

Show More
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper