tarnationn.adj.adv.
/tɑːˈneɪʃən/ slang (chiefly U.S.).
A. n.
= damnation n., int., adv., and adj..
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > malediction > oaths > [noun] > euphemisms for stronger oaths > for 'damn'
rammee1652
tarnation1790
darnation1798
1790 R. Tyler Contrast v. i. 68 Tarnation! That's no laughing matter though.
1801 G. Hanger Life II. 151 The Americans say, Tarnation seize me, or swamp me, if I don't do this or that.
1830 W. Carleton Traits & Stories Irish Peasantry I. 49 Tare-nation to the rap itself's in my company.
1832 New Eng. Mag. (Boston) III. 380 We have ‘Tarnation’ and ‘darnation’ for damnation.
1922 J. Joyce Ulysses ii. ix. [Scylla & Charybdis] 177 Wall, tarnation strike me!
1938 M. K. Rawlings Yearling v. 49 Git away, you blasted bacon-thieves!.. Git to tarnation!
1983 C. MacLeod Bilbao Looking-glass xix. 175 Tarnation! Here comes another o' them mobile camera units.
B. adj.
Damned, damnable, execrable.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > malediction > oaths > [adjective] > euphemisms for stronger oaths > for 'damn'
tarnation1784
tarnal1790
darned1815
dratted1857
dagnab1934
cotton-picking1958
1784 W. Wilson in Mem. (1896) 47 They only came to look at the ‘tarnation Tories’ from Canada.
1835–40 T. C. Haliburton Clockmaker (1862) 54 Now, says he, I'm in a tarnation hurry.
1857 J. W. Carlyle Lett. (1883) II. 329 After having been all but asphyxiated with tarnation folly.
C. adv.
Damnably, desperately, execrably.
ΚΠ
1790 R. Tyler Contrast (1887) v. i. 88 What the rattle makes you look so tarnation glum?
1830 J. Galt Lawrie Todd I. ii. i. 91 Which is tarnation bad.
1890 A. C. Gunter Miss Nobody vi People..don't call me ‘my good man’, for they know I'm a tarnation bad one when I'm riled, sonny!
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1910; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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n.adj.adv.1784