thingummy

thingummy
   Grose’s Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue (1785) described this term as ‘a vulgar address or nomination to any person whose name is unknowrn’. It is the word ‘thing’ with a meaningless suffix, though some early writers preferred to write ‘thing o’ me’. Perhaps it is slightly less vulgar when prefixed by a social title, as when the surgeon, in Dickens’s Oliver Twist, says to the mid-wife: ‘It’s all over, Mrs Thingummy!’
   See also what’s-your-name.

A dictionary of epithets and terms of address . . 2015.

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  • thingummy — (also thingamy) ► NOUN (pl. thingummies) informal ▪ a person or thing whose name one has forgotten, does not know, or does not wish to mention …   English terms dictionary

  • thingummy — thingy UK [ˈθɪŋɪ] / US or thingamabob UK [ˈθɪŋəmɪˌbɒb] / US [ˈθɪŋəməˌbɑb] or thingamajig UK [ˈθɪŋəmɪˌdʒɪɡ] / US [ˈθɪŋəməˌdʒɪɡ] or thingummy UK [ˈθɪŋəmɪ] / US noun Word forms thingy : singular thingy plural thingies Word forms thingamabob : Word… …   English dictionary

  • thingummy — [[t]θɪ̱ŋəmi[/t]] thingummies N COUNT You refer to something or someone as thingummy, thingummyjig or thingummybob when you do not know or cannot be bothered to use the proper word or name for them. [INFORMAL, SPOKEN] I once bought a thingummy out …   English dictionary

  • thingummy — noun (plural mies) Etymology: alteration of earlier thingum Date: 1796 thingamajig …   New Collegiate Dictionary

  • thingummy — noun something one does not remember the name of Syn: thingy …   Wiktionary

  • thingummy — [ θɪŋəmi] (also thingamy) noun (plural thingummies) informal a person or thing whose name one has forgotten, does not know, or does not wish to mention. Origin C18: from thing + a meaningless suffix …   English new terms dictionary

  • thingummy — thing·um·my …   English syllables

  • thingummy — n. (pl. ies) (also thingamy, thingumabob, thingumajig) colloq. a person or thing whose name one has forgotten or does not know or does not wish to mention. Etymology: THING + meaningless suffix …   Useful english dictionary

  • thingummy(bob) —  Thing or person one cannot remember the name of …   A concise dictionary of English slang

  • Victoria Wood (1989 TV series) — Victoria Wood Victoria Wood with Patricia Hodge and Jim Broadbent in Staying In , 1989 Format Comedy Created by Victoria Wood …   Wikipedia

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