dingbat

Noun

1. A silly, crazy or stupid person.
   • 'Midge was such a dingbat', Jenny Fields wrote in her autobiography, 'that she went to Hawaii for a vacation during World War Two.' - 1978, John Irving, chapter 2, in World according to Garp:
   • I hung around the older crews while they sling smack to dingbats - 1994, “Memory Lane (Sittin’ in da Park)”, in Illmatic, performed by Nas:
   • The fire department is out here because some dingbat parked in the red zone. - 2003, The Gilmore Girls, season 4, episode 7 (television production):

   Synonyms: dingus

2. A special ornamental typographical symbol, such as a bullet, an arrow, a pointing hand etc.
   • "The compulsive editor, when checking the specs on an article, can't help checking also for such items as initial capital and closing dingbat, if they are used routinely. These decorative items have a way of being...
3. An architectural style of apartment building, where the second storey overhangs an area for parking cars.
4. A kind of word puzzle involving pictures or typography that hint at the solution.
   • This can be a dingbat, anagram, word puzzle, riddle or other quick warm-up activity and demonstrates to your students that when they come into your lessons, you get them thinking right away. - 2015, Georgia Holleran,...
   • A dingbat is a kind of picture puzzle. Each picture represents a word, phrase or name, and the picture can often be supplemented with a couple of letters to assist in the guessing. - 2016, Stephen Scoffham, Teaching...

   Synonyms: rebus

5. Anything that can be thrown or swung with force against something else.
6. A small device or gadget, the correct term for which is forgotten or unknown.

   Synonyms: dingus thingamabob doohickey Sorted by number of Google hits widget hickey gizmo thingy gimmick thingie jigger gismo gubbins whatsit thingamajig doodad whatchamacallit thingo thingummy whatsis thingumajig thingumabob whatchacallit Sorted alphabetically