"cuss", noun, 1771, and not U.S.; antedates 1848

[Joel S. Berson]

Epilogue to the Tragedy of Almida; by Mr. Garrick.  Spoken by Mrs. Barry.
...
Should any fribble critics dare to dem,
Gad's cuss -- I'll throw a chicken glove at them:
And if to shew their teeth, they still will grin --
Let 'em come on -- I draw my corking pin!*

In The Annual Register, or, A view of the history, politics, and
literature, for the year 1771. London: Printed for J. Dodsley, in
Pall-Mall, 1772. The running head is "ANNUAL REGISTER / For the YEAR 1771".

Page 219, 2nd pagination (524 in the PDF).  (Page 1 of the 2nd
pagination, headed "Characters", has at the bottom left "Vol.
XIV".  This is consistent with the earliest volume held by Harvard,
1758.)  Google Books.

Antedates OED2 "cuss", noun, sense 1, "an execration", 1848.  (The
OED has sense 2, "Applied to persons, in the way of slight reproach
or contempt, or merely humorously with no definite meaning; also to
animals", from 1775 next to the same year 1848.)

[This is not "cuff" -- the typography has the second s as a short
s.  Although I feel quite lucky, finding this among all the thousands
of "cuff"s, "dis-cuss"s, "cups"s, etc.  And EAN also is too forbidding.]

[* A footnote explains "corking pin" as "Stands in a posture of
defence."  "Fribble" = "trifling, frivolous, ridiculous"; "dem" =
"condemn": "Gad" of course = "God".]

["Almida, a tragedy, as it is performed at the Theatre Royal in
Drury-Lane. By a lady" (London, T. Becket and co., 1771), is
attributed to Dorothea Celesia, "with a few alterations by David
Garrick".  Available in ECCO.]

Joel

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