phr. (general).—An exclamation or objurgation generally called forth by an incredible story, or by something displeasing to the auditor; varied by ‘LET ME DIE!’ ‘GOOD NIGHT!’ etc., as also by ‘CARRY ME HOME!’ ‘CARRY ME UPSTAIRS!’ ‘CARRY ME OUT AND LEAVE ME IN THE GUTTER!’ A writer in Notes and Queries [2 S., iii., 387] states it to have been in use circa 1780. [The origin is obscure, but some derive it from the Nunc dimittis (Luke ii. 29).]
1857. Notes and Queries, 16 May, p. 387, col. 2. CARRY ME OUT AND BURY ME DECENTLY. Do any of your correspondents recollect to have heard this phrase?
1861. T. HUGHES, Tom Brown at Oxford, ch. xlv. And so the president comes out to see the St. Ambrose boat row? Seldom misses two nights running. Then ‘CARRY ME OUT, AND BURY ME DECENTLY’ … Don’t be afraid. I am ready for anything you like to tell me.
1864. The Reader, Nov. 12. Mr. Hotten has CARRY ME OUT. Well the equivalent ‘Federal’ is ‘D’you tell?’
