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dingus

gjuhetar

Senior Member
Hindi
Is dingus no more used when referring to a thing which the speaker forgot or does not know the name of?
I can see the word in dictionaries, but the example sentences look somewhat outdated.
<< question deleted. We do not provide lists of synonyms >>
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<< moderator note. Have you seen this word used? Do you have an example sentence in which you found it? >>
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Sorry for breaking the rule I was not exactly aware of.
Although the word appears in some books, personally I just saw it in the dictionary entry, as defined as thingummy in the Oxford English Dictionary.
However, the most recent example sentence is dated 1939, and that's why I wondered if dingus is no more used these days.
I've never heard it.

In the BNC it occurs in a list of words which are 'euphemisms' for penis, which includes many expressions I'd never heard and a few which are familiar to me: acorn, ... << we don't provide lists of synonyms, thank you >> ... yutz.

<< and as we don't provide lists of synonyms, those two comments have lost their relevance >>

pps. Many dictionaries testify its use to mean a thingummy. In view of what has gone before, I rather enjoyed this quote: I have a little dingus that helps me clean venetian blinds.
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I haven't heard it before - thank you for introducing me to it, gjuhetar!πŸ‘ Smile :)


I see the WR English dictionary labels it North American/South African:
/ˈdΙͺΕ‹Ι™s/ο»Ώ
β–Άnoun (pl. dinguses) N. Amer. & S. African informal a thing one cannot or does not wish to name specifically.

– origin C19: via Afrik. from Du. ding β€˜thing’.
In my lexicon, dingus is just a very mild word that means "foolish person," used pretty much interchangeably with doofus. I've never seen it spelled, though, so perhaps my dingus is different than this one.
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