doohickey

doohickey

A name for a gadget or thing whose actual name is unknown or has been forgotten. Where's that doohickey? I need it to finish this repair. Hand me that doohickey or whatever it's called, will you?

doojigger

A name for a gadget or thing whose actual name is unknown or has been forgotten. Where's that doojigger? I need it to finish this repair. Hand me that doojigger or whatever it's called, will you?

whatchamacallit

Any thing the name of which is not known or cannot be remembered. Hand me that whatchamacallit over there. He said the machine will generate… whatchamacallit… electrostatic potential energy, something like that.
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

doojigger

and doohickey and doohickie (ˈdudʒɪgɚ and ˈduhɪki)
n. a name for a gadget. Toss me that little red doohickey, will you?

doohickey

verb
See doojigger

whatchamacallit

(ˈʍətʃəməˈkɑlɪt)
n. a name for a person or thing whose real name has been forgotten or is being avoided. I lost my—you know—my whatchamacallit—my watch!
McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions

whatchamacallit

Something whose name is not known or has been forgotten. A slangy alteration of “what you may call it,” it dates from the first quarter of the twentieth century. For example, “He’s got that new gadget on his car, a whatchamacallit—oh, a GPS.” Similar if not quite synonymous terms are doohickey and thingamabob, dating from about the same time. For example, “The Digital Book System . . . a doohickey slightly bigger than a cassette box—that stores the equivalent of 10 Bibles” (Newsweek, December 7, 1992).
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer
See also:
  • doohickie
  • whatchamacallit
  • doofer
  • doojigger
  • dufer
  • gazinkus
  • gazunkus
  • gizmo
  • doodad
  • widget
References in periodicals archive
(Editor's note: For you trivia buffs, that doohickey is called a "snub.")
Handy Hints[R] Classics
There was a time when I had a valuable little doohickey you could put on your car keys and when you clapped your hands it beeped, leading you to the place they were hiding.
Lost cause keeping comb, keys, car ..
"That's doohickey that they make in Wotsitland, and we got it last Christmas from Sally Youknowho." Of course.
A world full of doofer thingies
Visit these cloned sites and without some serious examination you might wonder whether you are visiting International Doohickey, Universal Tchotchkes, or Stuff World.
Know your niche: thinking about specialization and intended audience
Selling a doohickey product that doesn't perform can really run the customer off.
HE DICES, HE SLICES, HE SELLS
According to Barbara Ehrenreich, the only difference between men and women is the sexual "doohickey." The fact that we share certain qualities, such as competitiveness and athleticism, doesn't mean that men and women are the same.
No-man's-land? (Letters)
This is the identification code name for the C-Ration can opener, that little hinged metal doohickey which most of us wore beside our dogtags.
Korean War: food for thought
The word "TOAST" already aligned on the operational doohickey, I stood there and waited for the bagel to toast.
Hand-me-down genes
It's got a relay-lens doohickey on this end, a stack of special filters, and up here is a real, old-fashioned eyepiece.
Backyard 2030
This time we get 'if you managed to get hold of a neuraliser (the doohickey that erases memories and allows the MIB to reprogram the person's life), what would you use it for?'
Arts: Odd couple in black comedy; Mike Davies shares a chuckle with Will Smith, Tommy Lee Jones and Barry Sonnenfeld
Removing the inside panel of the door and putting a thingamabob back on the doohickey came to $24.10.
I'll never forget what's-her-name
And at some point in the future, should they invent such a wonder, I might treat myself to some sort of clever doohickey that could not only time me, but plot my progress via satellite!
THIS MUCH I KNOW; OPINION
"I think it's on your side of the medicine cabinet right near that battery-operated doohickey you have for trimming the hairs in your nose," she said, fortunately not taking me up on my distinction between thingamabobs and thingamajigs.
Doohickeys befuddling what's-his-face
We watched The Little Rascals on Channel 4 with Monty DuPuy, the weatherman, and his sidekick, Doohickey. Mornings, before school, we watched the Three Stooges with Mr.
Somehow form a family: channeling the remains of an American childhood
SINCE I'm not generally one for New Year resolutions, I feel a little sheepish confessing that I've spent the first week of January with a hi-tech doohickey strapped to my wrist.
OPINION