n. [ See Ding. ] 1. The sound of, or as of, repeated strokes on a metallic body, as a bell; a repeated and monotonous sound. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Horol.) An attachment to a clock by which the quarter hours are struck upon bells of different tones.

3. a stupid or foolish person; -- used in a deprecatory or contemptuous sense. [ slang ]
Syn. -- ding-a-ling, doofus. [ PJC ]

. (Philol.) The theory which maintains that the primitive elements of language are reflex expressions induced by sensory impressions; that is, as stated by Max Müller, the creative faculty gave to each general conception as it thrilled for the first time through the brain a phonetic expression; -- jocosely so called from the analogy of the sound of a bell induced by the stroke of the clapper. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]