Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.
From Middle English ringere, rynger, ryngar, equivalent to ring (“to sound a bell”) + -er.
Pull, if ye never pull′d before; Good ringers, pull your best," quoth he.1863, Jean Ingelow, High Tide on the Coast of Lincolnshire:
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From ring (“to surround”) + -er.
It is difficult to classify them precisely, but, in roughly ascending order of productivity, we now recognise the purely chance observer, the locality regulars (now recognising that ‘time in’ eventually equals ‘rarity out’), the ringers (particularly when working in groups), the occasional tally-hunter (most of us, if we are honest), the full-time observatory workers (exhibiting the highest standards of discipline) and the growing group of full-blooded rarity collectors (self-styled ‘twitchers’, covering individually up to 30,000 miles in their annual pursuit of ‘lifers’).1970, D.I.M. Wallace, “The first ten years of the Rarities Committee”, in British Birds, volume 63, number 3, London, page 124:
Most people associated with the Australian beef industry believe the ringer′s skill of throwing cattle by the tail to be a practice that is purely Australian. There is ample evidence however, that it was practised in South and Central America long before it was developed here.2005, Jake Drake, The Wild West in Australia and America, page 156:
This vast holding is run by six ringers and six boys. A ringer is a qualified stationhand and a boy is a trainee. It takes four years for a boy to become a ringer.1987, Geoffrey Atkinson, Philip Quirk., The Australian Adventure: The Explorer′s Guide to the Island Continent, page 175:
1964, Alec Bolton, Walkabout′s Australia, Walkabout magazine, page 107, The ringers are the stockmen on a station. The cattle pass through their hands before the drovers lift them and take them along the stock routes that lead to the killing pens in cities.
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Unknown. Probably so named after the custom of ringing a bell to denote the winner of a contest or competition.
Click goes his shears; click, click, click. Wide are the blows, and his hand is moving quick, The ringer looks round, for he lost it by a blow, And he curses that old shearer with the bare belled ewe.1891 December 5, The Bacchus Marsh Express, Victoria, page 7, column 7:
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Some senses may derive from ring the changes (“run through variations; enliven; pass counterfeit money; trick a shopkeeper into giving too much change”).
Near-synonym: hustler
In this next clip from the security camera, we see that the rube flashing his wad of cash thinks he'll win, but he doesn't realize that the guy in the gray shirt is a ringer.
I had heard early on in my career about 'ringers': cars that were stolen and cloned, but it was 1993 before I was to experience this first-hand.2020, Tom Hartley, Tom Hartley: The Dealmaker:
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Unclear. Compare ring of truth, and see the "fake, impostor" sense at Etymology 4.
That man over there is an exact ringer for my father!
I mean, he knows we never handed off the briefcase, but he never asked for it back. The million bucks was never in the briefcase! The asshole was hoping that they would kill her! You threw out a ringer for a ringer!1998, Ethan Coen, Joel Coen, The Big Lebowski (motion picture), spoken by The Dude (Jeff Bridges):
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From ring + -er, from the noun.
The senior officer of the escort was an RN two and a half ringer who had a reputation of being one of the best.2013, Dudley Pope, Convoy:
A group of naval one- and two-ringers were chatting by the office door with a few ratings, complete with kit-bags and oilskins.2012, John Harris, The Lonely Voyage:
[…] shabby baseball caps, faded and worn-out T-shirts, ringers and polos with artificially aged hems […]2007, Descant, number 138, page 28:
The shirts were light blue heather ringers with royal blue trim on the necks and sleeves.2011, Buck Peden, Baseball, Golf, Wars, Women & Puppies: An Autobiography, page 278:
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