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blimey

or bli·my

[blahy-mee]
interjection British Informal.
  1. (used to express surprise or excitement.)
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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
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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."

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper