dingus
/ˈdɪŋɡəs/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.27 in modern English
8
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
2
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A gadget, device, or object whose name is either unknown, forgotten, or omitted for the purpose of humor.
Canadian usage; American usage; Informal
noun
A foolish, incompetent, or silly person.
Canadian usage; American usage; Derogatory; Humorous; Informal
name
A surname.
Example Sentences
- ""If anybody should come in, and catch you with your breeches, as it were, down on the floor, all you have to do is to drink the water, wrap the rubber dingus around you, and tell them to “lay on Macduff.”"
- "WLK. First radio station. On December 31, 1921, local engineer Francis F. Hamilton's radio station, 9ZJ, signed on with an address from Mayor Samuel (Lew) Shank. Broadcasting from Hamilton's garage at 2011 North Alabama Street, Shank made the city's first radio blooper: "Hamilton, do you mean to tell me that people can actually hear me over that damn' dingus?""
- ""He took the this-is-unheard-of-but-not-really-serious-of-course attitude of a street fakir whose mechanical dingus flops during a demonstration.""
- "I wet the rod and measured the stuff into the top and by that time the water was steaming. I filled the lower half of the dingus and set it on the flame."
- "‘Say, what’s that dingus you Britishers wear when you’re playing cricket?"
- "Drill #40 the .094 [2.4 mm] holes in the dingus. Dimple the #40 holes."
Etymology
Probably of multiple origins. Partially a borrowing from Dutch dinges (“thingamajig, thingy; whatshisname, whatshername”), ding (“thing”). Probably also partially a borrowing from Afrikaans in view of its South African occurrence. The spelling dingus is a pseudo-Latinism to look like a Latin word ending in -us.