humdinger

English

Etymology

US origin, perhaps a blend of hummer (“something that moves fast”) +‎ dinger (“something outstanding”). First attested in a newspaper article in the Daily Enterprise of June 4, 1883, at Livingston, Montana.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /hʌmˈdɪŋ.ə(ɹ)/
• (US) IPA^(key): /hʌmˈdɪŋ.ɚ/
• Rhymes: -ɪŋə(ɹ)

Noun

humdinger (plural humdingers)

1. (informal) Something that is particularly outstanding, unusual, or exceptional.

   Most of the questions were pretty easy, but that last one was a humdinger.

   • 1961, Joseph Heller, Catch-22, London: Vintage Books, published 2010, →ISBN, page 22:

     “—immense. I'm a real, slam-bang, honest-to-goodness, three-fisted humdinger. I'm a bona fide supraman.” “Superman?” Clevinger cried. “Superman?” “Supraman,” Yossarian corrected.

   • 2011 July 19, Robbie Brown, “Arkansas Town Draws a Line on Clubs”, in New York Times‎:

     “I’ve seen some humdingers, but never any ordinance like this,” said Mark Hayes, general counsel for the Arkansas Municipal League, an organization for towns and cities.

Further reading

• “humdinger”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• Douglas Harper (2001–2025), “humdinger”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.