dingus

• dinges

Probably of multiple origins. Partly a borrowing from Dutch dinges (“thingamajig, thingy; whatshisname, whatshername”), ding (“thing”). Probably also partly a borrowing from Afrikaans in view of its South African occurrence. The spelling dingus is remodeled to look like a Latin word ending in -us.

• IPA^(key): /ˈdɪŋɡəs/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪŋɡəs

dingus (plural dinguses)

1. (informal, North American, South African) A gadget, device, or object whose name is either unknown, forgotten, or omitted for the purpose of humor.

   Synonyms: thingamajig; see also Thesaurus:thingy

   • 1879, George Wilbur Peck, Peck's Fun, Being Extracts from the "La Crosse Sun," and "Peck's Sun," Milwaukee:

     "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.”

   • 1921 December 31, “WLK”, in David J. Bodenhamer, Robert G[raham] Barrows, David Gordon Vanderstel, editors, The Encyclopedia of Indianapolis, Bloominton, Indianapolis, Ind.: Indiana University Press, published 1994, →ISBN, page 1399, column 2:

     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?"

   • 1929, Dashiell Hammett, Red Harvest:

     "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."

   • 1953, Raymond Chandler, The Long Goodbye, Penguin, published 2010, page 29:

     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.

   • 1979, Kyril Bonfiglioli, After You with the Pistol, Penguin, published 2001, page 241:

     ‘Say, what’s that dingus you Britishers wear when you’re playing cricket?

   • c. 2010, Van's Aircraft, RV-12 Plans, p. 5-30:

     "Drill #40 the .094 [2.4 mm] holes in the dingus. Dimple the #40 holes.”

3. (informal, Canada, US, derogatory, sometimes affectionately humorous) A foolish, incompetent, or silly person.

   Synonym: doofus

   I just lost my keys again. Now I feel like a dingus.

4. (slang, vulgar) Penis

   Synonyms: dink; see also Thesaurus:penis

   • 1970, Don Tracy, The Last Boat Out of Cincinnati, Trident Press, published 1970, →ISBN, page 74:

     "He got mad at me because his dingus wouldn’t come up for him — too drunk, I guess. […]

   • 2015, Quentin Tarantino, The Hateful Eight, spoken by Major Marquis Warren (Samuel L. Jackson):

     And Chester Charles Smithers sucked on that warm black dingus for as long as he could.

   • 2018, Tom Gammill, Max Pross, 3 Scenes Plus a Tag From a Marriage, spoken by Bart Simpson (Nancy Cartwright):

     How come you can say dink when you're talking about your jobs but I can't say dink when I'm talking about my dingus?

• gnudis, gundis, undigs