ting-a-ling

American

[ting-uh-ling] / ˈtɪŋ əˌlɪŋ /

noun

a repeated tinkling sound, as of a telephone bell.

ting-a-ling British

/ ˈtɪŋəˈlɪŋ /

noun

the sound of a small bell

"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 ting-a-ling

First recorded in 1860–65; imitative rhyming compound

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.

Everything bears the heft of truth, from the description of Manzanar to the Ting-a-ling Candy Shop, a real store that once stood at the corner of Chicago’s Dearborn and Division streets.

From Los Angeles Times

Hershey produced an altered version of its popular holiday ad, which since 1989 had featured a ting-a-ling bell choir of Hershey’s Kisses.

From New York Times

Ting-a-ling! went the rising bell, and Billy Bunny opened his left eye and twinkled his nose and stretched his right hind leg, and then he was wide awake.

From Project Gutenberg

The front-door bell was constantly going ting-a-ling, ting-a-ling!

From Project Gutenberg

The front-door bell: ting-a-ling, ting-a-ling!

From Project Gutenberg

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023