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Origin and history of blamed

blamed(adv.)

"confoundedly" 1833, later also as an adjective (1840), from past participle of blame (v.), as a "euphemistic evasion of the horrible word damn." [Bartlett, "Dictionary of Americanisms," 1848].

This adjective 'blamed' is the virtuous oath by which simple people, who are improving their habits, cure themselves of a stronger epithet. [Edward Everett Hale, "If, Yes, and Perhaps," 1868]

Compare also blamenation (1837) as an expletive. The imprecation blame me is attested from 1830.

also from 1833

Entries linking to blamed

blame(v.)

c. 1200, "find fault with" (opposed to praise, commend); c. 1300, "lay responsibility on for something deemed wrong," from Old French blasmer (12c., Modern French blâmer) "to rebuke, reprimand, condemn, criticize," from Vulgar Latin *blastemare, from Late Latin blasphemare "to blaspheme, to speak lightly or amiss of God or sacred things," which also had a sense of "revile, reproach" (see blaspheme). Replaced Old English witan (with long "i"). Related: Blamed; blaming.

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    blasted
    "stricken by malignant forces (natural or supernatural), cursed, blighted," 1550s, from blast (v.) in its once-common sense of "balefully breathe upon, cause to wither, blight." In the sense of "cursed, damned" it is a euphemism attested from 1680s. The meaning "drunk or stoned"
    pellagra
    chronic disease caused by dietary deficiency (formerly blamed on diseased grain) and characterized by dry, red skin, 1811...
    patsy
    Van in an 1890s vaudeville skit who was blamed whenever anything went wrong....
    disaster
    The sense is astrological, of a calamity blamed on an unfavorable position of a planet, and "star" here is probably meant...
    gremlin
    "small imaginary creature blamed for mechanical failures," oral use in R.A.F. aviators' slang from Malta, the Middle East...
    pica
    The bird will eat carrion, so if one were disturbed taking a meal from a dead lamb it would probably be blamed for its death...
    scapegoat
    Meyrick, "Leviticus," London, 1882] The transferred meaning "one who is blamed or punished for the mistakes or sins of others...
    pick
    early 13c., picken "to peck;" c. 1300, piken "to work with a pick, to dig up," probably representing a fusion of Old English *pician "to prick," (implied by picung "a piercing, pricking," an 8c. gloss on Latin stigmata) with Old Norse pikka "to prick, peck," both from a Germanic
    amble
    "to move easily and gently without hard shocks," as a horse does when it first lifts the two legs on one side and then the two on the other, early 14c., from Old French ambler, in reference to a horse or other quadruped, "go at a steady, easy pace" (12c.), from Latin ambulare "to
    attribute
    late 14c., "assign, bestow," from Latin attributus, past participle of attribuere "assign to, allot, commit, entrust;" figuratively "to attribute, ascribe, impute," from assimilated form of ad "to" (see ad-) + tribuere "assign, give, bestow" (see tribute). Related: Attributed; at

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