ding

Noun

ding (plural dings)

1. (informal) Very minor damage, a small dent or chip.
   • 2007 September, “Ding Repairs”, BBC Wales, archived on 5 October 2014:

     If you surf regularly, then you're going to ding your board. Here's a rough guide on how to repair them... If the ding is on the rail, run tape across the ding conforming to the rail curve, leaving a gap to pour in resin and make sure it is sealed to prevent resin escaping and forming dribbles.

2. (colloquial) A rejection.

   I just got my first ding letter.

Verb

ding (third-person singular simple present dings, present participle dinging, simple past dinged or (obsolete) dang, past participle dinged or (obsolete) dung)

1. (transitive) To hit or strike.
2. To dash; to throw violently.
   • Milton

     to ding the book a coit's distance from him

3. (transitive) To inflict minor damage upon, especially by hitting or striking.
   • 2007 September, “Ding Repairs”, BBC Wales, archived on 5 October 2014:

     If you surf regularly, then you're going to ding your board.

4. (transitive, colloquial) To fire or reject.

   His top school dinged him last week.

5. (transitive, colloquial) To deduct, as points, from another, in the manner of a penalty; to penalize.

   My bank dinged me three bucks for using their competitor's ATM.

   • 2015 August 7, Ron Lieber, “Bringing paternity leave into the mainstream [print version: Paid leave expands for fathers, but will there be any takers?, International New York Times, 10 August 2015, p. 14]”, in The New York Times‎:

     […] [E]mployees don't feel like they're going to get dinged on performance reviews because they had the same goals as a guy who had been there all 12 months with no leave.

6. (transitive, golf) To mishit (a golf ball).

Noun

ding (plural dings)

1. The high-pitched resonant sound of a bell.

Verb

ding (third-person singular simple present dings, present participle dinging, simple past and past participle dinged)

1. (intransitive) To make high-pitched sound like a bell.
   • Washington Irving

     The fretful tinkling of the convent bell evermore dinging among the mountain echoes.

2. (transitive) To keep repeating; impress by reiteration, with reference to the monotonous striking of a bell.
   • 1884, Oswald Crawfurd, English comic dramatists:

     If I'm to have any good, let it come of itself; not keep dinging it, dinging it into one so.

3. (intransitive, colloquial, role-playing games, especially video games) To level up

See also

• ding dong
• ding, ding, ding, we have a winner

ding with an animal mask

Alternative forms

• ting

Noun

ding (plural dings)

1. An ancient Chinese vessel with legs and a lid.

Noun

ding n (plural dingen, diminutive dingetje n)

1. matter, thing

Verb

ding

1. first-person singular present indicative of dingen
2. imperative of dingen

Noun

ding f (genitive singular dinge, nominative plural dingeacha)

1. wedge
2. thickset person

Verb

ding (present analytic dingeann, future analytic dingfidh, verbal noun dingeadh, past participle dingthe)

1. (transitive) wedge; pack tightly, stuff
2. (transitive) make compact; knit, knead

Noun

ding f (genitive singular dinge, nominative plural dingeacha)

1. dint

Verb

ding (present analytic dingeann, future analytic dingfidh, verbal noun dingeadh, past participle dingthe)

1. (transitive) dint

Usage notes

• English transcriptions of Mandarin speech often fail to distinguish between the critical tonal differences employed in the Mandarin language, using words such as this one without the appropriate indication of tone.