or cracky! cry! intj. (common).—Formerly, ‘a profane oath’; now a mere expression of astonishment. [A corruption of ‘Christ.’]
1837. R. H. BARHAM, The Ingoldsby Legends, ‘The Auto-da-fé’ (ed. 1862), p. 276.
| It would make you exclaim, ’twould so forcibly strike ye, | |
| If a Frenchman ‘Superbe!’—if an Englishman, ‘CRIKEY!’ |
1841. The Comic Almanack, p. 275. Oh! CRIKEY, Bill; vot a conch that lady’s got!
1853. Diogenes, II., 54.
| O, CRIKEY! the switching I got, | |
| At the hand of the cruel old miser. |
1887. W. E. HENLEY, Culture in the Slums.
| ‘O CRIKEY, Bill!’ she ses to me, she ses. | |
| ‘Look sharp,’ ses she, ‘with them there sossiges.’ |
