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Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. n. Slang An empty-headed or silly person.
  2. n. An object, such as a brick or stone, used as a missile.
  3. n. Slang An unspecified gadget or other small article, especially one whose name is unknown or forgotten.
  4. n. Printing A typographical ornament or symbol.

Wiktionary

  1. n. A silly or stupid person.
  2. n. A special ornamental typographical symbol, such as a bullet, an arrow, a pointing hand etc.
  3. n. An architectural style of apartment building, where the second storey overhangs an area for parking cars.

WordNet 3.0

  1. n. a silly empty-headed person

Etymologies

  1. Probably ding1 + bat2 (as in bats in the belfry).

Examples

  • “I find it fitting that the term dingbat also refers to harebrained humans, a la Edith Bunker or a character in a George Herriman comic strip.”

    JSOnline.com

  • “If my husband Buffoon his affectionate nickname for me is dingbat, which is much better than "Schmoopie" had a one-night stand, I would definitely want him to tell me about it.”

    The Huffington Post: Pat Gallagher: Post-50 One-Night Stands: Don't Try This at Home!

  • “If my husband Buffoon his affectionate nickname for me is dingbat, which is much better than”

    The Full Feed from HuffingtonPost.com

  • “I think it will not do Sarah any good to align herself with this "dingbat".”

    Palin, Bachmann to headline Tea Party convention

  • “The Los Angeles Forum for Architecture and Urban Design presents the Dingbat 2.0 Exhibition, featuring winning and selected entries from the recently completed Dingbat 2.0 Housing Competition, which challenged architects and designers to reconsider Los Angeles 'ubiquitous "dingbat" apartment building for the 21st century.”

    The Huffington Post: Bettina Korek: Plan ForYourArt June 17-19

  • “No wonder PZ Myers called Sam Harris a "dingbat", abeit for an entirely different screwy argument he made.”

    Hullabaloo

  • “When I say "dingbat," incidentally, I am not implying that I wish she'd been more competent.”

    Archive 2007-02-01

  • “We also got to include a "dingbat," or a symbol of our choice, so we drew a little face gritting its teeth.”

    The Wall Street Journal: How to Get Your Own Personalized Font

  • “Yes, that Jean Stapleton -- Archie Bunker's "dingbat" wife from _All in the Family_.”

    Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine

  • “Granted, it wouldn't be hard to find evidence that Palin has the qualities of a "dingbat", but why not just take the easy way out and call her a bimbo?”

    AlterNet.org Main RSS Feed

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Lists

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Comments

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    Aug 30, 2009

  • trivet There was a ranch near where I grew up - the sign on the gate as you drove by: "dingbat flat." I always liked the name, til I found out that another dingbat flat was the site of an Australian race riot. Feb 17, 2007

‘dingbat’ has been looked up 1346 times, loved by 2 people, added to 26 lists, commented on 2 times, and has a Scrabble score of 11.