An intensifying phrase, like too or moreover.
1830. The march was now hurried on, yet slow at that, for I could not walk fast.—Mass. Spy, July 28.
1836. His goods are marked so high, he knows that the one who steals them gets a hard bargain at that.—Public Ledger (Phila.), April 13.
1839. I goes in for toddies strong, as strong as pison at that.—Salem Advertiser, Sept. 18, from N.O. Picayune.
1840. He was fined only the dollar, and went to jail at that.—Daily Pennant (St. Louis), May 5.
1841. If that member [Mr. Giddings of Ohio] will go to any county in the State of Georgia, and dare to utter but half of what he said here yesterday, he would most certainly be subjected to the infliction of Lynch law, and he might be happy if he escaped at that.—Mr. Black of Georgia, House of Representatives, Feb. 9: Congressional Globe, p. 165, App.
1845. Our food was of the most unwholesome kind, and scant at that.—P. P. Pratt, account of his escape, The Prophet (N.Y.), Feb. 1.
1850. Had to take [the mare] or get none, and to buy her at that.—Cornelius Mathews, ‘Moneypenny,’ p. 12 (N.Y.).
1851. Some paper which she could not read, nor tell its meaning, and forged at that.—Joel H. Ross, ‘What I Saw in New-York,’ p. 145 (Auburn, N.Y.).
1854. And then the doggery-keepers got to sellin’ licker by the drink, instead of the half-pint, and a dime a drink at that; and then the Devil was to pay, and NO mistake.—J. G. Baldwin, ‘Flush Times,’ p. 308.
1855. Miss Wilhelmina, like most girls of eighteen or nineteen, has her instinctive likings, and very romantic ones at that.—D. G. Mitchell, ‘Fudge Doings,’ i. 156.
1859. This seems to be a game for the Presidency, and a brag game at that.—Mr. Thompson of Kentucky, U.S. Senate, Feb. 16: Cong. Globe, p. 1058.
1861. The criticism of such birds by the barnyard goose, with clipped wings at that, is n’t fit for much.—Knick. Mag., lvii. 424 (April).
1867. Such a remark at a season of the year when eggs are five for a shilling, and not always fresh at that, is enough to discomfit any body.—F. S. Cozzens, ‘Sayings of Dr. Bushwhacker,’ p. 8.
1896. What did it matter that she had only two calico dresses and one pair of shoes, half-soled at that, and capped across the toes?—Ella Higginson, ‘Tales from Puget Sound,’ p. 33.
1906. Encroachment of the sort is equivalent to snow in Cairo, and permanent snow at that; not an occasional snow flurry, but something to linger on the ground and stay visible sixty millions of miles away.—Percival Lowell, ‘Mars and its Canals,’ p. 59 (Macmillan).
