bingo

plural bingos · alternative Bingo

1. uncountableA game of chance for two or more players, who mark off numbers on a grid as they are announced by the caller; the game is won by the first person to call out "bingo!" or "house!" after crossing off all numbers on the grid or in one line of the grid.

   He plays bingo with his family on Saturdays.

   Synonyms: housey-housey, lotto

2. uncountableA similar game or amusement in which participants tick off themed words, phrases or pictures as these are called out, or as they are mentioned, for example during a speech or performance

   animal bingo (animal pictures), ABBA bingo (titles or lyrics of ABBA songs), buzzword bingo

3. countableA win in such a game.

   There were two bingos in the last game, so the players split the prize money.

4. UScountableScrabbleA play where all seven of a player's letter tiles are played, awarding a score bonus.
5. countableuncountableGreat, sudden, typically hard-to-predict success; the jackpot.

   1 more example

   An explosion of gay male movies has hit the U.S. in the past few months. Kiss of the Spiderwoman, Parting Glances and My Beautiful Laundrette, among others, have not only demonstrateed that the coming out story can be surpassed, they've also shown the movie industry that substantive gay portrayals can mean box office bingo.

   1986 April 19, Loie Hayes, Donna Deitch, “Leapin' Lesbians!”, in Gay Community News, page 8

alternative Bingo

1. Used by players of bingo to claim a win.

   Synonyms: house!

2. informalUsed when finding what one has been looking for or trying to recall, or on successful completion of a task.

   Just have to pick the bfast, lunch and dinner I feel most like eating today and – bingo!

   2009 February 28, Megan Ogilvie, “Flex your plan for healthier eating”, in Toronto Star

   2 more examples

   ‘Some big, hard-boiled egg meets up with a pretty face, and bingo! He cracks up and melts.’

   1932, Delos W. Lovelace, King Kong, published 1965, page 31

   Megamind: Boingo! Minion: I think you mean "bingo", sir. Megamind: That's what I said. Boingo!

   2011 February 25, Alan Schoolcraft, Brent Simons, 7:35 from the start, in Simon J. Smith, director, Megamind: The Button of Doom (DVD/Blu-ray), Paramount Pictures

   Synonyms: aha!, eureka!, got it!, that's it!, yes!

3. informalUsed to enthusiastically confirm or validate another speaker's point.

alternative Bingo

1. USnot comparableslangaeronauticsJust sufficient to return to base (or, alternatively, to divert to an alternative airfield). (also written Bingo or BINGO)

   The first pilot to get down to this bingo fuel state would call, “Banjo 4, bingo fuel,” or whatever.

   2012, Larry R Gibson, Recollections of a Marine Attack Pilot, page 54

   1 more example

   Well, the old pucker factor went up about 75 notches at that point cause that length of time would put my wingman below Bingo fuel, plus the thought of sitting in an orbit several miles West of the Yen Bai […]

   1993, Red River Valley Fighter Pilots, page 40

present singular third person bingos · participle present bingoing · participle past bingoed · past bingoed · alternative Bingo

1. intransitiveTo play the game of bingo.
2. intransitiveTo give the winning cry of "bingo!" in a game.
3. intransitiveTo play all of one's seven tiles in one move in the game of Scrabble, earning a score bonus.

   With IN on the board, he bingoed with OPERATING for 74 points, while Ann added the CO in front of it for 30 points.

   2009, Joe Edley, John Williams, Everything Scrabble: Third Edition, page 333

4. USintransitiveslangaeronauticsTo return to base.

1. obsoleteslanguncountableBrandy.

1. A male given name.

   Our dog, Bingo, was determined not to be left behind; […]

   1945, Ernest M. Wampler, “Living in a Cave Home and Moving to Liao”, in China Suffers or My Six Years of Work During the Incident, Elgin, Ill.: Brethren Publishing House, →OCLC, part 1 (The Coming of the Japanese Army), page 45

   2 more examples

   Bingo! Bingo! Where is the rascal, I wonder. […] ENTER Bingo, r. 2, with glass of cream, […]

   1903, Charles Walcott Russell, “Act I”, in The Prisoner of Andersonville: A Military Drama in Four Acts, New York, N.Y.: Dick & Fitzgerald, […], →OCLC, pages 7–8

   Marco stopped to talk with a boy named Bingo Brown. Bingo was eating frozen peas from a supermarket package.

   1956, Jean Merrill, The Travels of Marco, New York, N.Y.: Alfred A. Knopf, →LCCN

2. Alternative letter-case form of bingo (“game of chance”).

   Help her talk about the simple things she enjoys in life—her favorite television program, donuts on Friday mornings, playing Bingo with her friends.

   2009, Donnie J. Wilbanks, “Being a Caregiver”, in Applied Psychology in Health Care, Clifton Park, N.Y.: Delmar, Cengage Learning, →ISBN, page 90

   2 more examples

   We like playing Bingo, which is good because Beth is in special ed classes in school now, and they’re teaching her letters and numbers, and Mommy tries to help her by playing Bingo.

   2002, Rachel Simon, “Into Out There”, in Riding the Bus with My Sister: A True Life Journey, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Company, →ISBN, section “March”, page 71

   She was a nice person, but she was blind as a bat. She couldn’t see a Bingo card if it was as big as a barn. Poor Lois Fratelli used to play Bingo there too.

   2013, Janet Evanovich, chapter 5, in Takedown Twenty (A Stephanie Plum Novel), New York, N.Y.: Bantam Books, →ISBN, page 50

1. Alternative letter-case form of bingo.

   I have this feeling of inadequacy because I can’t have any children. As a little girl, you’re playing with dolls and all this and you’re prepared right from when you are a little one. […] You’re prepared for this whole thing and then Bingo!—you can’t and you have to start thinking differently.

   1989, Kerry Daly, quoting Andrea, “Anger Among Prospective Adoptive Parents: Structural Determinants and Management Strategies”, in Clinical Sociology Review, volume 7, East Lansing, Mich.: Michigan State University Press, →ISBN, →ISSN, section “Theories and Methods of Clinical Sociology”, page 84

   2 more examples

   The discovery of this woman’s body suddenly threw a complex of apparently unrelated incidents into an integrated whole. You grind away at routine, you collect a vast amount of data ninety-per-cent of which is useless and then—some thing happens and Bingo—the other ten-per-cent sits up like Jacky and Bob’s your uncle.

   1968, Ngaio Marsh, “Ramsdyke”, in Clutch of Constables, London: The Companion Book Club, →OCLC, page 125

   "Hey Doug, what if you draw a line connecting each location; what does it look like to you?" / Doug mulls over the question for a second, sensing Marcello may be onto something. Then the light bulb goes on. "It looks like a set up for your basic three prong attack, is what it looks like." / "Exactly, Bingo . . . If you were going to hit the U.S. from the South, you would cut off the major transportation arteries and then make your push northward at three points to provide maximum flexible response."

   2015 October 13, Robert Dudley; Marc A. DeSimone, Sr., “Around 3:00 A.M. Mount Weather, VA”, in Last Shepherd: A Novel, Middletown, Del., →ISBN, page 189

1. Alternative letter-case form of bingo.

1. USnot comparableslangaeronauticsAlternative letter-case form of bingo (“just sufficient to return to base”).