ping-pong

[ ping-pong, -pawng ]

/ ˈpɪŋˌpɒŋ, -ˌpɔŋ /

Informal.

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verb (used with object)

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)

to go back and forth; change rapidly or regularly; shift; bounce: For ten years the foreign correspondent ping-ponged between London and Paris.

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Origin of ping-pong

First recorded in 1900–05

Words nearby ping-pong

pinfold, ping, pinger, Ping Hsin, pingo, ping-pong, pinguecula, pinguid, pinhead, pinheaded, pinhole

Other definitions for ping-pong (2 of 2)

Ping-Pong

[ ping-pong, -pawng ]

/ ˈpɪŋˌpɒŋ, -ˌpɔŋ /

Trademark.

table tennis.

How to use ping-pong in a sentence

Anyone with the intellect of a ping-pong ball should understand how opportunistic that whistleblowing looks.
An Ivy League Frat Boy’s Shallow Repentance|Stefan Beck|November 24, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Meanwhile, Kiev and Moscow passed the fault for the tragedy to each other, as if they were playing ping pong with the tragedy.
MH17 Black Box ‘Sent to Moscow for Investigation’|Anna Nemtsova|July 17, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Air marshal Houston was careful to make it clear that, however encouraging, the ping detections were not in itself enough.
Can Anyone Find MH370 If It’s in a Million Pieces?|Clive Irving|April 9, 2014|DAILY BEAST
A second “ping” then put the phone in the vicinity of a shopping center in Kissimmee.
The Teen Love Letters that Led to a Tragic Murder-Suicide in Florida|Michael Daly|March 30, 2014|DAILY BEAST

For some hours after all other communications stopped, the airplane was sending a “ping” recording its presence to a satellite.
The Baseless Rush to Blame the Pilots of Flight 370|Clive Irving|March 16, 2014|DAILY BEAST
And when the opening tone of the first line is a ping, the opening tone of the line following must be tseh, and vice versa.
Chinese Poems|Various
Public gardens had special ping-pong tables to relieve the stress.
As A Chinaman Saw Us|Anonymous
And, by the way, you boys haven't made the acquaintance of Pong, have you?
The Pony Rider Boys in Texas|Frank Gee Patchin
"Pong is as funny as his name, even if he is a Chinaman," laughed Stallings.
The Pony Rider Boys in Texas|Frank Gee Patchin
Pong, what are you going to give us out of the chuck wagon in the morning?
The Pony Rider Boys in Texas|Frank Gee Patchin

British Dictionary definitions for ping-pong

Ping-Pong

/ (ˈpɪŋˌpɒŋ) /

noun

trademark another name for table tennis Also called: ping pong

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