"humdinger" meaning in All languages combined

See humdinger on Wiktionary

Noun [English]

IPA: /hʌmˈdɪŋ.ə(ɹ)/ [UK], /hʌmˈdɪŋ.ɚ/ [US] Forms: humdingers [plural]
Rhymes: -ɪŋə(ɹ) Etymology: US origin, perhaps a blend of hummer (“something that moves fast”) + dinger (“something outstanding”). First attested in a newspaper article in the Daily Enterprise of June 4, 1883, at Livingston, Montana. Etymology templates: {{blend|en|hummer|dinger|gloss1=something that moves fast|gloss2=something outstanding|nocap=1}} blend of hummer (“something that moves fast”) + dinger (“something outstanding”) Head templates: {{en-noun}} humdinger (plural humdingers)
  1. (informal) Something that is particularly outstanding, unusual, or exceptional. Tags: informal
    Sense id: en-humdinger-en-noun-n66CT6nE Categories (other): English blends, English entries with incorrect language header

Inflected forms

Download JSONL data for humdinger meaning in All languages combined (2.2kB)

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "hummer",
        "3": "dinger",
        "gloss1": "something that moves fast",
        "gloss2": "something outstanding",
        "nocap": "1"
      },
      "expansion": "blend of hummer (“something that moves fast”) + dinger (“something outstanding”)",
      "name": "blend"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "US origin, perhaps a blend of hummer (“something that moves fast”) + dinger (“something outstanding”). First attested in a newspaper article in the Daily Enterprise of June 4, 1883, at Livingston, Montana.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "humdingers",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "humdinger (plural humdingers)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English blends",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Most of the questions were pretty easy, but that last one was a humdinger.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1961, Joseph Heller, Catch-22, London: Vintage Books, published 2010, page 22",
          "text": "“—immense. I'm a real, slam-bang, honest-to-goodness, three-fisted humdinger. I'm a bona fide supraman.” “Superman?” Clevinger cried. “Superman?” “Supraman,” Yossarian corrected.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2011 July 19, Robbie Brown, “Arkansas Town Draws a Line on Clubs”, in New York Times",
          "text": "“I’ve seen some humdingers, but never any ordinance like this,” said Mark Hayes, general counsel for the Arkansas Municipal League, an organization for towns and cities.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Something that is particularly outstanding, unusual, or exceptional."
      ],
      "id": "en-humdinger-en-noun-n66CT6nE",
      "links": [
        [
          "outstanding",
          "outstanding"
        ],
        [
          "unusual",
          "unusual"
        ],
        [
          "exceptional",
          "exceptional"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(informal) Something that is particularly outstanding, unusual, or exceptional."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "informal"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/hʌmˈdɪŋ.ə(ɹ)/",
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/hʌmˈdɪŋ.ɚ/",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-ɪŋə(ɹ)"
    }
  ],
  "word": "humdinger"
}
{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "hummer",
        "3": "dinger",
        "gloss1": "something that moves fast",
        "gloss2": "something outstanding",
        "nocap": "1"
      },
      "expansion": "blend of hummer (“something that moves fast”) + dinger (“something outstanding”)",
      "name": "blend"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "US origin, perhaps a blend of hummer (“something that moves fast”) + dinger (“something outstanding”). First attested in a newspaper article in the Daily Enterprise of June 4, 1883, at Livingston, Montana.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "humdingers",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "humdinger (plural humdingers)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English 3-syllable words",
        "English blends",
        "English countable nouns",
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English informal terms",
        "English lemmas",
        "English nouns",
        "English terms with IPA pronunciation",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English terms with usage examples",
        "Rhymes:English/ɪŋə(ɹ)",
        "Rhymes:English/ɪŋə(ɹ)/3 syllables"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Most of the questions were pretty easy, but that last one was a humdinger.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1961, Joseph Heller, Catch-22, London: Vintage Books, published 2010, page 22",
          "text": "“—immense. I'm a real, slam-bang, honest-to-goodness, three-fisted humdinger. I'm a bona fide supraman.” “Superman?” Clevinger cried. “Superman?” “Supraman,” Yossarian corrected.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2011 July 19, Robbie Brown, “Arkansas Town Draws a Line on Clubs”, in New York Times",
          "text": "“I’ve seen some humdingers, but never any ordinance like this,” said Mark Hayes, general counsel for the Arkansas Municipal League, an organization for towns and cities.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Something that is particularly outstanding, unusual, or exceptional."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "outstanding",
          "outstanding"
        ],
        [
          "unusual",
          "unusual"
        ],
        [
          "exceptional",
          "exceptional"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(informal) Something that is particularly outstanding, unusual, or exceptional."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "informal"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/hʌmˈdɪŋ.ə(ɹ)/",
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/hʌmˈdɪŋ.ɚ/",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-ɪŋə(ɹ)"
    }
  ],
  "word": "humdinger"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-07-01 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-06-20 using wiktextract (e79c026 and b863ecc). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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