damn
Listen:Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
damn /dam/
▶verb
- 1 (be damned) (in Christian belief) be condemned by God to suffer eternal punishment in hell.
■ be doomed to misfortune or failure.
- 2 condemn, especially publicly.
- 3 curse.
– phrases
as near as damn it informal as close to being accurate as makes no difference.
damn all Brit. informal nothing.
damn with faint praise praise so unenthusiastically as to imply condemnation.
I'm (or I'll be) damned if informal used to express a strong negative: I'm damned if I know.
not be worth a damn informal have no value.
well I'll be (or I'm) damned informal used to express surprise.
as near as damn it informal as close to being accurate as makes no difference.
damn all Brit. informal nothing.
damn with faint praise praise so unenthusiastically as to imply condemnation.
I'm (or I'll be) damned if informal used to express a strong negative: I'm damned if I know.
not be worth a damn informal have no value.
well I'll be (or I'm) damned informal used to express surprise.
– origin ME: from OFr. dam(p)ner, from L. dam(p)nare ‘inflict loss on’, from damnum ‘loss, damage’.
'damn' also found in these Oxford entries:
