ringer

See also: Ringer

English

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈɹɪŋə(ɹ)/
Audio (AU) (file)
Rhymes: -ɪŋə(ɹ)

Etymology 1

From Middle English ringere, rynger, ryngar, equivalent to ring (“to sound a bell”) +‎ -er.

Noun

ringer (plural ringers)

Someone who rings, especially a bell ringer.
- 1863, Jean Ingelow, High Tide on the Coast of Lincolnshire,
  Pull, if ye never pull′d before;
  Good ringers, pull your best," quoth he.
(mining) A crowbar.
(Can we find and add a quotation of Simmonds to this entry?)

Etymology 2

From ring (“to surround”) +‎ -er.

Noun

ringer (plural ringers)

(games) In the game of horseshoes, the event of the horseshoe landing around the pole.
(uncountable, games) A game of marbles where players attempt to knock each other's marbles out of a ring drawn on the ground.
A ringer T-shirt.
- 2007, Descant (issue 138, page 28)
  […] shabby baseball caps, faded and worn-out T-shirts, ringers and polos with artificially aged hems […]
- 2011, Buck Peden, Baseball, Golf, Wars, Women & Puppies: An Autobiography (page 278)
  The shirts were light blue heather ringers with royal blue trim on the necks and sleeves.

Etymology 3

Probably from ring the changes.

Noun

ringer (plural ringers)

(sports) A person highly proficient at a skill or sport who is brought in, often fraudulently, to supplement a team.
Synonym: hustler
(horse racing) A horse fraudulently entered in a race using the name of another horse.
A person, animal, or entity which resembles another so closely as to be taken for the other, now usually in the phrase dead ringer.
Synonym: dead ringer
- 1998, Jeff Bridges as The Dude, The Big Lebowski‎:
  I mean, he knows we never handed off the briefcase, but he never asked for it back. The million bucks was never in the briefcase! The asshole was hoping that they would kill her! You threw out a ringer for a ringer!

Etymology 4

Unknown. Probably so named after the custom of ringing a bell to denote the winner of a contest or competition.

Noun

ringer (plural ringers)

(Britain, dialectal) A top performer.
(Australia) The champion shearer of a shearing shed.
(Australia) A stockman, a cowboy.
- 1964, Alec Bolton, Walkabout′s Australia, Walkabout magazine, page 107,
  The ringers are the stockmen on a station. The cattle pass through their hands before the drovers lift them and take them along the stock routes that lead to the killing pens in cities.
- 1987, Geoffrey Atkinson, Philip Quirk. The Australian Adventure: The Explorer′s Guide to the Island Continent, page 175,
  This vast holding is run by six ringers and six boys. A ringer is a qualified stationhand and a boy is a trainee. It takes four years for a boy to become a ringer.
- 2005, Jake Drake, The Wild West in Australia and America, page 156,
  Most people associated with the Australian beef industry believe the ringer′s skill of throwing cattle by the tail to be a practice that is purely Australian. There is ample evidence however, that it was practised in South and Central America long before it was developed here.

Anagrams

Griner, erring, gerrin'

Danish

Verb

ringer

present of ringe

Norwegian Bokmål

Noun

ringer m

indefinite plural of ring

Verb

ringer

present of ringe

Norwegian Nynorsk

Verb

ringer

present tense of ringa and ringe

Old Swedish

Etymology

From Old Norse hringr, from Proto-Germanic *hringaz.

Noun

ringer m

ring, circle

Declension

Declension of ringer (a-stem)

	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	ringer	ringrin	ringa(r)	ringani(r), -ane(r)
accusative	ring	ringin	ringa	ringana
dative	ringi, -e	ringinum, -enom	ringum, -om	ringumin, -omen
genitive	rings	ringsins	ringa	ringanna

Descendants

Swedish: ring

Swedish

Verb

ringer

present tense of ringa.