thingamabob

English

Alternative forms

• thingamabobber, thingamybob, thingmabob, thingumabob, thingumbob, thingumebob, thingummabob, thingummybob, thingymabob

Etymology

Alteration of thingumbob: obsolete thingum (from thing) + bob. Earliest citation from 1751, as thingumbobs.

Pronunciation

• Audio (Australia):

  (file)

Noun

thingamabob (plural thingamabobs)

1. (slang) A thing or person whose actual name is unknown or forgotten.
   • 1923, Ernest Bramah [pseudonym; Ernest Brammah Smith], “(please specify the page)”, in The Eyes of Max Carrados, London: Grant Richards, →OCLC:

     "The tin thingamabob," insisted Mr. Trigget with slow dignity. "Call it what you will. Its purpose is self-evident. It acts as a dispirator—a distributor, that is to say—"

Synonyms

• See Thesaurus:thingy
• See Thesaurus:whatshisname

Translations

placeholder word

Afrikaans: watsenaam Danish: dims c, dingenot c, dippedut c Dutch: dinges (nl) n or m, huppeldepup (nl) n or m Esperanto: umo (eo) French: truc (fr), machin (fr), bidule (fr) Georgian: please add this translation if you can German: Dingsbums (de) n, Dingsda (de) n or m or f Greek: Ancient Greek: σκινδαψός m (skindapsós) Italian: cosa (it) f, coso (it) m Māori: mea Polish: wihajster (pl) m inan Portuguese: negócio (pt) m Russian: штука (ru) f (štuka), штуковина (ru) f (štukovina), фигня (ru) f (fignja), фиговина (ru) f (figovina) Spanish: cosa (es) f, coso (es) m, chingadera (es) f Swedish: mojäng (sv) c, tingest (sv) c, grunka (sv) c, mackapär (sv) c, manick (sv) c