dog my cats

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dog my cats

1. (idiomatic) Used as a mild oath, or as an expression of astonishment
   • 1884 December 10, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: (Tom Sawyer’s Comrade) […], London: Chatto & Windus, […], →OCLC:

     Why, dog my cats, they must a ben a house-full o' niggers in there every night for four weeks to a done all that work, Sister Phelps.

   • 1906, O. Henry, The Four Million:

     "I began to feel sorry for Hubby, dog my cats if I didn't."

   • Buffalo Bill Cody: "Dog my cats" — Preston Sturgis, "Annie Oakley", 1935
   • Salesman: "Well, dog my cats!" — Moroni Olsen, "Christmas in July", 1940
   • Joe Ross: "Dog my cats indeed" — David Mamet, "The Spanish Prisoner", 1997
   • Marshall Eriksen: "Well, dog my cats..." — Jason Segel, "How I Met Your Mother", 2010