English Explanatory Dictionary

dingbat

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A silly, crazy or stupid person.
  2. A special ornamental typographical symbol, such as a bullet, an arrow, a pointing hand etc.
  3. An architectural style of apartment building, where the second storey overhangs an area for parking cars.
  4. A kind of word puzzle involving pictures or typography that hint at the solution.
  5. Anything that can be thrown or swung with force against something else.
  6. A small device or gadget, the correct term for which is forgotten or unknown.

Pronunciation

/ˈdɪŋbæt/ LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-dingbat.wav

Word forms

dingbat dingbats

Etymology

Unknown, US mid 19th century. The word-puzzle sense comes from the board game Dingbats, which is based on these puzzles. In the sense of a miscellaneous gadget, probably influenced by dingus or its etyma.

Synonyms

dingus rebus thingamabob doohickey Sorted by number of Google hits widget hickey gizmo thingy gimmick thingie jigger gismo gubbins whatsit thingamajig doodad whatchamacallit thingo thingummy whatsis thingumajig thingumabob whatchacallit Sorted alphabetically affair bazinga bizzo dealie dealy dinglehopper dohickey dojigger dongle doo-hickey doober doodah doofer doohickus doohinkey doohinkus doojigger doovalacky foobar foo frammis frobnitz gadget geegaw gewgaw gingambob gingumbob hodad hootenanny jawn jimbang jobber jobby joint junk

Related words

dingwad ding fleuron wingding

Derived words

dingbatter dingbattery dingbatty Webdings Wingdings
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