Humdinger

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Grammarist

Humdinger is a word that first appeared in the latter half of the nineteenth century. We will examine the definition of the word humdinger, where it came from and some examples of its use in sentences.

A humdinger is a person or thing that is outstanding or remarkable. Humdinger seems to be a portmanteau of the words hummer and dinger, each of which means something outstanding or remarkable. The term hummer dates back to the end of the seventeenth century, and the word dinger dates to the early to mid-nineteenth century. A portmanteau is a word that is composed by blending the sounds and the meaning of two different words. While the first known use of the word humdinger occurred in the United States in the 1880s, the use of the word humdinger seems to have peaked in the 1950s, and is currently used in a humorous manner or when attempting to sound a bit old-fashioned. Humdinger is a noun, the plural form is humdingers. Various items have been named humdinger, including songs, pubs and fishing lures.

Examples

WILL Croker is preparing his Bournemouth side for what he believes will be a “humdinger” of a clash with table-topping Dings Crusaders. (The Bournemouth Echo)

BEDWAS chief Ian Gardner expects tomorrow’s showdown with former Bridge Field supremo Steve Law’s Cardiff to be a “real humdinger”. (The South Wales Argus)

There are still tickets available for this beer and punk rock humdinger, with curators and punk legends NOFX performing with Flogging Molly, Goldfinger, Less than Jake and more. (The Sacramento Bee)

He not only helped author epic-fail acronymic humdingers like CRASH (Community Resources Against Street Hoodlums) and DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education), but also pioneered “Olympic Gang Sweeps” ahead of the Games. (The Guardian)