different between dingus vs thingy

English

Alternative forms

• dinges

Etymology

Borrowed from Dutch dinges, ding (“thing”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?d????s/

Noun

dingus (plural dinguses)

1. (informal, Canada, US) 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.”

   • 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 2010, p. 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 2001, p. 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.”

2. (informal, Canada, US) A fool or incompetent person.

   Synonym: doofus

3. (slang, vulgar) penis

   Synonyms: dink; see also Thesaurus:penis

   • 1970, Don Tracy, The Last Boat Out of Cincinnati, Trident Press (1970), ?ISBN, page 74:

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

Anagrams

• gnudis, gundis, undigs

English

Alternative forms

• thingie

Etymology

From thing +? -y

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /????i?/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /????i/
• Rhymes: -??i

Noun

thingy (plural thingies)

1. (informal) A thing (used in a vague way to refer to something whose name one cannot recall).
2. (slang, euphemistic) Penis.

Synonyms

• See Thesaurus:thingy

Translations

Further reading

• Wikipedia article on placeholder names

Anagrams

• nighty