dingbat

plural dingbats

1. informalA silly, crazy or stupid person.

   I hung around the older crews while they sling smack to dingbats

   1994, “Memory Lane (Sittin’ in da Park)”, in Illmatic, performed by Nas

   2 more examples

   'Midge was such a dingbat', Jenny Fields wrote in her autobiography, 'that she went to Hawaii for a vacation during World War Two.'

   1978, John Irving, chapter 2, in World according to Garp

   The fire department is out here because some dingbat parked in the red zone.

   2003, The Gilmore Girls, season 4, episode 7 (television production)

   Synonyms: dingus

2. mediaA special ornamental typographical symbol, such as a bullet, an arrow, a pointing hand etc.

   "The compulsive editor, when checking the specs on an article, can't help checking also for such items as initial capital and closing dingbat, if they are used routinely. These decorative items have a way of being forgotten..."

   1982, The Elements of Editing: A Modern Guide for Editors and Journalists, Arthur Plotnik, p.8

3. architectureAn architectural style of apartment building, where the second storey overhangs an area for parking cars.
4. A kind of word puzzle involving pictures or typography that hint at the solution.

   A dingbat is a kind of picture puzzle. Each picture represents a word, phrase or name, and the picture can often be supplemented with a couple of letters to assist in the guessing.

   2016, Stephen Scoffham, Teaching Geography Creatively, page 17

   1 more example

   This can be a dingbat, anagram, word puzzle, riddle or other quick warm-up activity and demonstrates to your students that when they come into your lessons, you get them thinking right away.

   2015, Georgia Holleran, Ian Gilbert, A Teacher’s Companion to Essential Motivation in the Classroom

   Synonyms: rebus

5. slangAnything that can be thrown or swung with force against something else.First known use 1838
6. A small device or gadget, the correct term for which is forgotten or unknown.

   Synonyms: dingus, thingamabob, doohickey, Sorted by number of Google hits, widget, hickey, gizmo, thingy