Definitions
A gadget, object, or thing whose name is unknown or forgotten.
Word origin
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.
Used in a sentence
“"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.””
“"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.”
Source: Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0
Used as a crossword answer1 curated clues
01“Whatsit, informally”6 letters
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