From English dialectal (Kentish)dingy(“dirty”), of unknown origin, though probably fromMiddle English*dingy,dungy, fromOld English*dyncgiġ(“covered with dung, dirty”), an umlaut form ofduncge,dung(“dung”), equivalent todung +-y, hence adoublet ofdungy.[1]
dingy (comparativedingier,superlativedingiest)
- dark,dull
- Synonyms:drab,gloomy,dreary,dismal;see alsoThesaurus:dim
- Antonym:bright
1960 December, “The Glasgow Suburban Electrification is opened”, inTrains Illustrated, page713:The station has been refurbished both at ground level and below ground, where the wide, fluorescently lit platforms are an almost unrecognisable metamorphosis of thedingy, reeking Low Level of old.
- shabby,squalid,uncared-for
- Synonyms:grimy,dirty
- Antonym:pristine
1853 Christmas,[George Augustus Sala], “Over the Way’s Story”, inCharles Dickens, editor,Another Round of Stories by the Christmas Fire. Being the Extra Christmas Number ofHousehold Words. […], London,page15, column 2:He led her throughdingy wareroom after wareroom, counting-house after counting-house, where the clerks all were silent and subdued. He led her at last into adingy sanctum, dimly lighted by one shaded lamp. In this safe there were piles ofdingy papers and moredingy ledgers;[…]
1951 October, R. S. McNaught, “Lines of Approach”, inRailway Magazine, page704: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 increasinglydingy 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 reallydingy – all sludgy greens and brown
dingy (pluraldingies)
- Alternative form ofdinghy
dingy (third-person singular simple presentdingies,present participledingying,simple past and past participledingied)
- Alternative form ofdinghy
