lingo

plural lingos · plural lingoes

1. countableinformaluncountableLanguage, especially language peculiar to a particular group, field, or region; jargon or a dialect.

   "You see, ma'am, I can't divest myself of my professional lingo," observed Mr. Banks.

   1846, George W.M. Reynolds, The Mysteries of London, volume 1, London: George Vickers, page 327

   2 more examples

   [...] I have Thoughts to tarry a ſmall Matter in Town, to learn ſomewhat of your Lingo firſt, before I croſs the Seas.

   1700, [William] Congreve, The Way of the World, a Comedy. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, Act III, scene xv, page 47

   Nobody could make out plain what she said, for she was mainly jabbering Swede lingo, but there was English enough, of a kind, to give us some idee.

   1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter XII, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC

2. countableuncountableAustralian AboriginalAn Aboriginal language.

   The huntsman spoke Davey’s lingo.

   1937, Ion L. Idriess, Over the Range, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, published 1947, page 77

   1 more example

   Granny Ava was the link: the last heathen of the family to speak the lingo fluently, before the Church waltzed in and jammed the Lord's Prayer in Granny Ruth's twelve-year-old mouth instead.

   2018, Melissa Lucashenko, Too Much Lip, University of Queensland Press, published 2023, page 105

plural Lingos

1. A surname.