I'll be blowed

English

WOTD – 6 September 2022

Etymology

A 1905 U.S. postcard featuring the term “I’ll be blowed”, and incidentally illustrating its probable origin.

Probably a hyperbole expressing that the speaker is so surprised it is as if they have been blown over by a gust of wind: compare blow me down and blow me over, and also knock someone over with a feather, which have the same sense. Used as a euphemism for I'll be damned; compare also blasted.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌaɪl biː ˈbləʊd/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˌaɪl bi ˈbloʊd/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -əʊd

Interjection

I'll be blowed

1. (British, euphemistic, informal, dated) Used to express amazement and surprise.

   Synonyms: (Britain, informal) blow me, blow me down, blow me over, (Britain, informal, archaic) blow me pink, (Britain, informal, archaic) blow me tight, crikey, gosh, (Britain, informal) I'm blowed; see also Thesaurus:wow

   Well, I’ll be blowed if it isn’t my old school friend, John!

   • 1858, Anthony Trollope, chapter XV, in Doctor Thorne. […], volume II, London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC, page 5:

     ‘[…] Luke at that there homnibus; why, darn me—’ and now, in his eloquence at this peculiar point, my friend became more loud and powerful than ever—‘why, darn me, if maister harns enough with that there buss to put hiron on them osses feet, I’ll—be—blowed!’

   • 1876 June, Henry James, Jr., chapter II, in The American, Boston, Mass.: James R[ipley] Osgood and Company, […], published 5 May 1877, →OCLC, page 20:

     The sound of his voice quickened the other’s memory, his face expanded to its fullest capacity, and he also broke into a laugh. “Why, Newman—I’ll be blowed! Where in the world—I declare—who would have thought? You know you have changed.”

   • 1893, Horatio Alger Jr., chapter XXX, in Cast Upon the Breakers‎^[1]:

     “I’ll be blowed if it isn’t the kid,” ejaculated Wheeler.

Alternative forms

• I'll be blown

Translations

used to express amazement and surprise — see wow

Further reading

• “blow me tight!” under “blow, v.¹”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, June 2022.
• “I'll be blowed, phrase”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• Colin McIntosh, editor (2013), “I’ll be blowed!”, in Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, 4th edition, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, reproduced in the Cambridge English Dictionary website, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.