colloq. ? Obs. exc. dial. Also 9 thing’em. [f. THING sb.1, with meaningless suffix.] = THINGUMMY. (In first quot. in reduplicated form thingum thangum: cf. CRINKUM-CRANKUM.)
1680. Otway, Atheist, IV. i. With a deep Point Thingum Thangum over her Shoulders.
1681. T. Flatman, Heraclitus Ridens, No. 45 (1713), II. 38. Is there no News from the Thingum in the Old Baily?
1741. Chesterf., Lett. to Son, 6 Aug. To speak of Mr. What d’ye-call-him, or Mrs. Thingum, or How-d’ye-call-her, is excessively awkward and ordinary.
1793. Fitzgerald, in Europ. Mag., XXIII. 387. All your bunch of thingums.
1808. Mrs. C. Kemble, Day after Wedding, 11. What were you saying, Mr. Thing’em?
So in extended forms Thingumary (thingummarie, thing-a-merry), Thingumajig, (thingymyjig, etc.). See also next two words.
1819. ‘R. Rabelais,’ Abeillard & Heloisa, 146. Deep pond’ring—in a reverie On some dubious thingummarie.
1827. Hone, Every-day Bk., II. 58. That clever fellow, ‘Thing-a-merry,’ or that stupid dog, ‘What-d’ye-call-um.’
1876. ‘L. Carroll,’ Hunting of Snark, I. ix. He would answer … To ‘What-you-may-call-um?’ or ‘What-was-his-name!’ But especially ‘Thingum-a-jig!’
1889. Century Mag., April, 913/1. He got ther critter propped up an’ ther thingermajig stropped on ter ’im.
1902. Eliz. L. Banks, Newspaper Girl, 149. I would drive through Hyde Park in a victoria,… and everybody would say, ‘There goes the editress of the Thingymygig Magazine!’
