What does "ding-a-ling" mean?

The sound of a small bell; the sound of a fire engine bell.

What is a synonym for "ding-a-ling"?

Common synonyms include: boycock, boydick, ding-dong, dipstick, doodle, dork.

adj, noun, slang

adj, noun, slang ·Very common ·High school level

Noun

1
The sound of a small bell; the sound of a fire engine bell.
"The ding-a-ling from the fire truck somehow filled him with more dread than its horn blasts could: for whom does that bell toll?"
2
An eccentric, crazy, or stupid person. slang
"Pay no heed to what she hollers — she's a ding-a-ling!"
3
The penis. childish, slang
"They explained patiently but firmly that he wasn't to play with his ding-a-ling nor try to show it to anyone."

Adjective

"The ding-a-ling from the fire truck somehow filled him with more dread than its horn blasts could: for whom does that bell toll?"

Imitative. The penis sense may be an alteration of dingling, a diminutive of ding (“penis”).

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.