ringer
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ringer¹
- /ˈɹɪŋə(ɹ)/
Rhymes with -ɪŋə(ɹ)
Where it comes from
From Middle English ringere, rynger, ryngar, equivalent to ring (“to sound a bell”) + -er.
noun ringers
- Someone who rings, especially a bell ringer. Pull, if ye never pull′d before; Good ringers, pull your best," quoth he.
- A crowbar.
ringer²
- /ˈɹɪŋə(ɹ)/
Rhymes with -ɪŋə(ɹ)
noun ringers
- A person who places rings or bands on a bird's leg. It is difficult to classify them precisely, but, in roughly ascending order of productivity, we now recognise the purely chance observer, the locality regulars (now recognising that ‘time in’ eventually equals ‘rarity out’), the ringers (particularly when working in groups), the occasional tally-hun
- A stockman, a cowboy. 1964, Alec Bolton, Walkabout′s Australia, Walkabout magazine, page 107, The ringers are the stockmen on a station. The cattle pass through their hands before the drovers lift them and take them along the stock routes that lead to the killing pens in cities.
- In the game of horseshoes, the event of the horseshoe landing around the pole.
- A game of marbles where players attempt to knock each other's marbles out of a ring drawn on the ground.
ringer³
- /ˈɹɪŋə(ɹ)/
Rhymes with -ɪŋə(ɹ)
Where it comes from
Unknown. Probably so named after the custom of ringing a bell to denote the winner of a contest or competition.
noun ringers
- A top performer.
- The champion shearer of a shearing shed. Click goes his shears; click, click, click. Wide are the blows, and his hand is moving quick, The ringer looks round, for he lost it by a blow, And he curses that old shearer with the bare belled ewe.
ringer⁴
- /ˈɹɪŋə(ɹ)/
Rhymes with -ɪŋə(ɹ)
Where it comes from
Some senses may derive from ring the changes (“run through variations; enliven; pass counterfeit money; trick a shopkeeper into giving too much change”).
noun ringers
- Any person or thing that is fraudulent; a fake or impostor.
-
A person highly proficient at a skill or sport who is brought in, often fraudulently, to supplement a team.
Near-synonym: hustler
Similar: hustler
- A horse fraudulently entered in a race using the name of another horse.
- A fraudulently cloned (or cut-and-shut) motor vehicle. I had heard early on in my career about 'ringers': cars that were stolen and cloned, but it was 1993 before I was to experience this first-hand.
ringer⁵
- /ˈɹɪŋə(ɹ)/
Rhymes with -ɪŋə(ɹ)
Where it comes from
Unclear. Compare ring of truth, and see the "fake, impostor" sense at Etymology 4.
noun ringers
-
A person, animal, or entity which resembles another so closely as to be taken for the other; a look-alike (now usually in the phrase dead ringer).
That man over there is an exact ringer for my father!
Similar: dead ringer
ringer⁶
- /ˈɹɪŋə(ɹ)/
Rhymes with -ɪŋə(ɹ)
Where it comes from
From ring + -er, from the noun.
noun ringers
- An officer having the specified number of rings (denoting rank) on the uniform sleeve. A group of naval one- and two-ringers were chatting by the office door with a few ratings, complete with kit-bags and oilskins.
- A ringer T-shirt. […] shabby baseball caps, faded and worn-out T-shirts, ringers and polos with artificially aged hems […]
Ringer⁷
- /ˈɹɪŋə(ɹ)/
Where it comes from
Inherited from Middle English Ryngere, from ryngere (“bell-ringer”).
proper noun
- A surname.
Ringer⁸
- /ˈɹɪŋə(ɹ)/
Where it comes from
From ring + -er.
noun Ringers
-
A fan of the novel The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien and/or the film trilogy based on it.
Readers flocked online to articulate their angst, discovering 400 websites where "Ringers" congregated to converse in Quenya – one of Tolkien's fictional languages – and discuss such burning issues as whether elves have pointy ears.
Similar: Ringnut
Thesaurus
Closest in meaning: dead ringer, ringing, doorbell, snare, ring, buzzer, slugger, decoy, crate, look-alike, champion, bell, ringtone, horse, lure, champ
Talk about this word "ringer." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/ringer. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. ringer. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/ringer "ringer." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/ringer.Cite this
@misc{ringer_2026,
title = {ringer},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/ringer},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
