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  • ping-pong
    ping-pong
    verb (used with object)
    to move back and forth or transfer rapidly from one locale, job, etc., to another; switch.
  • Ping-Pong
    Ping-Pong

ping-pong

1 American  
[ping-pong, -pawng] / ˈpɪŋˌpɒŋ, -ˌpɔŋ /

verb (used with object)

  1. to move back and forth or transfer rapidly from one locale, job, etc., to another; switch.

    The patient was ping-ponged from one medical specialist to another.


verb (used without object)

  1. to go back and forth; change rapidly or regularly; shift; bounce.

    For ten years the foreign correspondent ping-ponged between London and Paris.

Ping-Pong 2 American  
[ping-pong, -pawng] / ˈpɪŋˌpɒŋ, -ˌpɔŋ /
Trademark.
  1. table tennis.


Ping-Pong British  
/ ˈpɪŋˌpɒŋ /

noun

  1. Also called: ping pong.  another name for table tennis

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of ping-pong

First recorded in 1900–05

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

"Ping pong balls would flow downstream, obviously, so they put information on the ping pong balls and let them float down into the stream so other people would find them," Gilman recalled.

From Salon • Apr. 22, 2023