Dictionary

dingy en · ADJ · etymology 1

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio
• /ˈdɪn.d͡ʒi/

Etymology

From English dialectal (Kentish) dingy (“dirty”), of unknown origin, though probably from Middle English *dingy, dungy, from Old English *dyncgiġ (“covered with dung, dirty”), an umlaut form of duncge, dung (“dung”), equivalent to dung + -y, hence a doublet of dungy.

Meanings

1. Dark, dull.
   • The station has been refurbished both at ground level and below ground, where the wide, fluorescently lit platforms are an almost unrecognisable metamorphosis of the dingy, reeking Low Level of old. 1960 December, “The Glasgow Suburban Electrification is opened”, in Trains Illustrated, page 713:
2. Shabby, squalid, uncared-for.
   • At last the first glimpse from a bridge of an open-top red bus, and a noticeable darkening of the atmosphere from the smoke of London: then the increasingly dingy stations with double-barrel names, set amid what has always been to me the outstanding feature of the "Premier Line" approach to London—the positively marvellous display of crazy chimney-pots on the grey inner suburban houses. As many as twenty, all of varying style, standing together like ranks of jagged teeth, and providing a Dickensian back-cloth which no other route can boast. 1951 October, R. S. McNaught, “Lines of Approach”, in Railway Magazine, page 704:
   • She's looking from Tarquin to Fenella with shining eyes, and I look at the picture interestedly over her shoulder. But to be honest, I can't say I'm impressed. For a start it's really dingy – all sludgy greens and brown 2009, Sophie Kinsella, The Secret Dreamworld Of A Shopaholic: (Shopaholic Book 1):
   • He led her through dingy wareroom after wareroom, counting-house after counting-house, where the clerks all were silent and subdued. He led her at last into a dingy sanctum, dimly lighted by one shaded lamp. In this safe there were piles of dingy papers and more dingy ledgers; […] 1853 Christmas, [George Augustus Sala], “Over the Way’s Story”, in Charles Dickens, editor, Another Round of Stories by the Christmas Fire. Being the Extra Christmas Number of Household Words. […], London, page 15, column 2:

Forms

Antonyms

pristine · bright

Deriveds

dingily · grungy · dinginess · dingy dart · dingy skipper

Synonyms

grimy · lackluster · bland · muddy · dismal · gloomy · colourless · uncolorful · dim · dreary · wan · dingy · sober · unholiday · leaden · faint · sad · dull · drab · dirty

dingy en · NOUN · etymology 2

Meanings

1. (alt-of, alternative) Alternative form of dinghy.
   alt of dinghy

Forms

dingy en · VERB · etymology 2

Meanings

1. (alt-of, alternative) Alternative form of dinghy.
   alt of dinghy

Forms

dingy en · ADJ · etymology 3

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

Etymology tree English ding Proto-Indo-European *-kos Proto-Germanic *-gaz Proto-West Germanic *-g Old English -iġ Middle English -y English -y English dingy From ding + -y.

Meanings

1. (informal, rare) Resembling or characteristic of a ding (the sound).
   • They was a button on that thar computer what said ‘Enter’. I pushed it ’cause I figgered it must be a doorbell. It didn’t make no dingy sound though. 2012, Darrell Sroufe, “Modernized Newfangled Gizmos & Gadgets”, in Howdy Folks! I’m Fuster Buskins!, [Bloomington, Ind.]: Xlibris, →ISBN, page 134:
   • I remember we had a small electronic toy that had hot lines and made dingy sounds where you tried to eat all the pellets before the boxes with yellow inside them got you. Father said this was one of the first toys ever to be made and we were awe-struck by it. [2008?], Colin Jacks, chapter IX, in The Manikin Textbook, Jamaica Plain, Mass.: Mister Records, →OCLC, 2nd book, page 214:
   • I love it when they hit. You know the sound when they hit? That dingy sound, it’s like faster, and contained somehow? That’s a great sound. Happens like a fraction of a second before you know what you’ve hit, before you figure it out. 1997, Frederick Barthelme, chapter 6, in Bob the Gambler, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Company, →ISBN, page 63:

Forms

Relateds

ringy-dingy