dingy

English

Etymology 1

From English dialectal (Kentish) dingy (“dirty”), of unknown origin, though probably from an unrecorded Middle English *dingy, *düngy, from Old English *dyncgiġ (“covered with dung, dirty”), an umlaut form of Old English duncge, dung (“dung”), equivalent to dung +‎ -y.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈdɪn.d͡ʒi/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪndʒi

Adjective

dingy (comparative dingier, superlative dingiest)

1. dark, dull

   Synonyms: drab, gloomy, dreary, dismal; see also Thesaurus:dim

   Antonym: bright

   • 1960 December, “The Glasgow Suburban Electrification is opened”, in Trains Illustrated, page 713:

     The station has been refurbished both at ground level and below ground, where the wide, fluorescently lit platforms are an almost unrecognisable metamorphosis of the dingy, reeking Low Level of old.

2. shabby, squalid, uncared-for

   Synonyms: grimy, dirty

   Antonym: pristine

   • 1854, Charles Dickens, Household Words:

     He led her at last into a dingy sanctum, dimly lighted by one shaded lamp. In this safe there were piles of dingy papers and more dingy ledgers ; with great piles of accounts on hooks in the wall

   • 1951 October, R. S. McNaught, “Lines of Approach”, in Railway Magazine, page 704:

     At last the first glimpse from a bridge of an open-top red bus, and a noticeable darkening of the atmosphere from the smoke of London: then the increasingly dingy stations with double-barrel names, set amid what has always been to me the outstanding feature of the "Premier Line" approach to London—the positively marvellous display of crazy chimney-pots on the grey inner suburban houses. As many as twenty, all of varying style, standing together like ranks of jagged teeth, and providing a Dickensian back-cloth which no other route can boast.

   • 2009, Sophie Kinsella, The Secret Dreamworld Of A Shopaholic: (Shopaholic Book 1):

     She's looking from Tarquin to Fenella with shining eyes, and I look at the picture interestedly over her shoulder. But to be honest, I can't say I'm impressed. For a start it's really dingy – all sludgy greens and brown

Derived terms

• dingily
• dinginess
• dingy dart
• dingy skipper
• grungy

 

Translations

dark, dull — see dark,‎ dull,‎ dismal

shabby, squalid, uncared-for — see shabby,‎ squalid,‎ uncared-for,‎ dirty

Etymology 2

Noun

dingy (plural dingies)

1. Alternative form of dinghy

Verb

dingy (third-person singular simple present dingies, present participle dingying, simple past and past participle dingied)

1. Alternative form of dinghy

References

• “dingy”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• “dingy”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• dying