Also 6–9 gingle, 7 yingle, 9 gingell. [f. prec. vb.]
1. A noise such as is made by small bells, a chain of loose links, or loose pieces of metal when struck; a sound intermediate between clinking and ringing.
1599. B. Jonson, Ev. Man out of Hum., Pref. 35. The gingle of his spurre, and the ierke of his wande.
1678. Otway, Friendship in F., 18. We know when a certain Spark of this Town is at hand by the new fangled gingle of his Coach.
1791. Mrs. Inchbald, Simp. Story, I. vii. 75. The gentle gingle of a teaspoon.
1826. Disraeli, Viv. Grey, V. vi. No other sound was heard, except the jingle of the dollars and Napoleons.
1833. Ht. Martineau, Three Ages, II. 73. Mrs. Reade heard the jingle of the chain.
1874. Symonds, Sk. Italy & Greece (1893), I. ii. 30. The continual jingle of our sledge-bells.
b. Applied depreciatively to other sounds.
1827. Carlyle, Misc., Richter (1869), I. 7. The jingle of the household operations seemed not at all to disturb him.
1842. Thoreau, Excurs., Nat. Hist. Mass. (1863), 46. The gingle of the song-sparrow salutes us from the shrubs and fences.
1865. M. Arnold, Ess. Crit., v. 184. I hear nothing but the rattle of carriages, hammering, scolding, and the jingle of the piano.
2. Something that jingles; a jingling bell; anything adapted to produce a jingling sound.
1615. G. Sandys, Trav., 173. Who instead of musicall instruments, have sawcers of brasse (which they strike against one another) set about with gingles.
1625. Bacon, Ess., Plantations (Arb.), 534. It you Plant, where Sauages are, doe not onely entertaine them with Trifles, and Gingles; But vse them iustly.
1825. Hone, Every-day Bk., I. 1248. The tambourine,… and the Turkish jingle, used in the army.
3. The affected repetition of the same sound or of a similar series of sounds, as in alliteration, rhyme or assonance; any arrangement of words intended to have a pleasing or striking sound without regard to the sense; a catching array of words, whether in prose or verse. Chiefly contemptuous.
c. 1645. Howell, Lett. (1892), II. 658. In the perusal of these Parables … you shall find no gingles in them.
1663. Bp. Patrick, Parab. Pilgr., 157. Frivolous hearers, who are more pleased with little gingles, and tinkling of words than with the most perswasive arguments.
a. 1680. Butler, Rem. (1759), II. 261. As if that old Gingle were logically true in all Things.
1717. Addison, Spect., No. 297, ¶ 16. Milton … often affects a kind of Jingle in his Words, as in the following Passages … ‘And brought into the World a World of Woe.’
1791. Gentl. Mag., 26/2. Several pages of his sermons consisting of a series of verbal quibbles and jingles.
1837–9. Hallam, Hist. Lit., I. I. i. § 35. 32. This gingle is certainly pleasing in itself.
1879. Farrar, St. Paul, I. 534. Their so-called philosophy had become little better than a jingle of phrases.
4. A covered two-wheeled car used in the south of Ireland and in Australia. Also attrib.
1806. J. Carr, Stranger in Ireland, v. 69. I mounted a jingle at the great jingle-stand, at the corner of Bagot-street.
1824. T. C. Croker, Researches S. Ireland, ii. 34. Jingles … have been established between the principal towns. These are carriages on easy springs,… to contain six or eight persons.
1829. Blackw. Mag., XXV. 772/2. Ultimately the gingle was almost abandoned for the jaunting-car.
1842. Thackeray, Fitz-Boodle’s Pap., Pref. I got it … from … a jingle-driver.
1862. Clara Aspinall, 3 Yrs. in Melbourne, 122 (Morris). An omnibus may be chartered at much less cost (gentlemen who have lived in India will persist in calling this vehicle a jingle, which perhaps sounds better); it is a kind of dos-à-dos conveyance, holding three in front, and three behind; it has a waterproof top to it, supported by four iron rods, and oilskin curtains to draw all round as a protection from the rain or dust.
1887. Cassell’s Picturesque Australasia, I. 64. The jingle has been ousted by the one-horse waggonette.
1892. Pall Mall Gaz., 17 Aug., 2/3. Queenstown is full…. The jingle men, as they are called here—the Yankees call them hackmen—are making their fortunes.
5. An American name for the shell of the saddle-oyster, Anomia. Also attrib.
1887. Fisheries U.S. Sect. V. II. 543. A more fragile shell, such as a scallop, mussel, or jingle (Anomia) is certainly better.
1889. Pall Mall Gaz., 9 Aug., 3/3. A large collection of scallop and jingle shells—gold and silver shells the little people call them.
6. attrib. and Comb. (see also senses 4 and 5), as jingle-bell, etc. (see quots.); jingle-boy (slang), a coin, spec. a sovereign; also, a man who has plenty of money in his pockets.
1887. Bicycling News, 21 May, 99/1. My light was burning brilliantly, and my *jingle bell going at the time.
1894. Outing (U.S.), XXIV. 71/1. The captain of the launch pulls the ‘jingle bell’ for full speed ahead.
a. 1700. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, *Jingle-boxes, Leathern Jacks tipt and hung with Silver Bells formerly in use among Fuddle Caps.
c. 1600. Day, Begg. Bednall Gr., V. (1881), 111. Come, old fellow, bring thy white Bears to the Stake, and thy yellow *gingle boys to the Bull-ring.
a. 1652. Brome, Covent Gard., I. Wks. 1873, II. 16. There is a Gallant now below, a Gingle boy indeed, that has his pockets full of crowns that chide for vent.
1891. Farmer, Slang, Canary,… 2. … a sovereign. English Synonyms … Yellow hammer; shiner; gingleboy; monarch.
a. 1700. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, *Jingle-brains, a Maggot-pated Fellow.
