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doohickey
[doo-hik-ee]
doohickey
/ ˈːˌɪɪ /
noun
informalanother name for doodah
51Թ History and Origins
Origin of doohickey1
Example Sentences
Keep an eye out for surprise guests: Last year at the Bowl, Nelson brought out John Densmore of the Doors to play various percussion “doohickeys,” as the singer put it.
For the hard-to-reach places — the flower beds and under the azaleas — he has a little handheld doohickey, like a garden center jack-in-box.
It’s one of those little mechanical doohickeys where you push it in, then it pops out.
Even if it’s a doohickey without any particular monetary value.
You simply slot the little thumb drive-sized doohickey into the appropriate slot in your sleeve and pair it to your phone.
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When To Use
Doohickey is a very informal word for an object whose name you don’t know, have forgotten, or can’t recall at the moment.It’s often used to refer to gadgets or parts of things that might not even have a commonly known name, as in Before we attach the bracket, we have to insert this doohickey here. Doohickey is sometimes used even if you know the name of the thing you’re referring to, such as to be funny or to downplay the importance or value of an object, as in What, these old doohickeys? I’ve got a whole boxful of ’em. Take as many as you want. Doohickey is often used with a modifier describing the kind of thing, as in Where’s that plastic doohickey?There are several other similarly informal words that are used in the same way, including doodad, dingus, thingy, thingamajig, thingamabob, whachamacallit, and whatsit.Example: My kids got me one of those doohickeys that track your steps. What’s it called? A stepometer?
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