E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
Drat ’em!
A variant of Od rot ’em! The first word is a minced form of the word God, as in “Od’s blood!” “Od zounds!”=God’s wounds, “Od’s bodikins,” etc. (See OD’S.) A correspondent in Notes and Queries suggests “[May] God out-root them!” but we have the words drattle and throttle (to choke) which would better account for the a and the o, and which are also imprecations.
