thingamajig

thingamajig

Some tool, gadget, or other such implement the proper name for which is unknown or unremembered. A: "What is that thingamajig over there?" B: "That's a power coupler. Don't touch it." It looks like the signal is controlled by this joystick-looking thingamajig.
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

thingamajig

and thingy (ˈθɪŋəmədʒɪg and ˈθɪŋi)
n. a gadget for which the proper name has been forgotten or is unknown. Hand me that thingamajig with the copper base, will you?
McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions
See also:
  • thingy
  • thingmabob
  • thingmajig
  • thingamabob
  • gazinkus
  • gazunkus
  • doofer
  • doojigger
  • dufer
  • doohickie
References in periodicals archive
But the thingamajig dropped to two stars after failing another key test: underneath the screw lid of the tomato sauce, the bottle top was a sorry mess.
"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.
"He also said the pipes in the attic might be frozen so to wait until he got up and jimmied a thingamajig that would somehow get them flowing again," Linda chattered.
Hurdy gurdy means "thingamajig", while bar cwtch is a warning for others to stay away from your spot or place while picking blackberries.
I have a tendency to mumble about technical matters like an old mechanic: "Let's put the thingamajig before the whoosits here" is how I usually state the deepest literary problems to myself.
6 Hershey's Thingamajig candy bar (limited edition), 1.5 oz.
"Peter," as Dicdrich Diederichsen points out in his essay for Goldstein's catalogue, translated for Kippenberger as "thingamajig"--the implication being that the sculptures encapsulate a series of studio jokes on the reification of formal strategies into artistic "brands." So we get a little Judd, some Buren, Warhol, and Bruce Conner, some Trockel and Artschwager with a bit of Robert Morris.
Stanley Thingamajig aren't you?' I said, 'Yes, and you have even remembered my unusual surname'." Comedian Stanley Baxter.
As Toot says, "He knew that the best present was usually something you made yourself, a one-of-kind thingamajig, not just a whatsit anyone could buy in a store." We can all use that reminder.
The surest way to frustrate a service rep or entice a dishonest gunsmith is to call a part a "thingamajig."
Apparently it's Spanish for 'thingamajig' - another great word.
Yes, it's that funny thingamajig up in the Rockies in Colorado called The International that comes up most years as a warm-up for the final Major, the USPGA Championship.
More than half our survey group had bought an electric kitchen thingamajig sometime in the past year.
The text may be about widgets, but what do you do if the author calls them "doohickeys," the latest buzzword is "thingamajig," and the closest concept in your controlled vocabulary is "gadgets"?
Homer's use of the -ma- infix may also be related to the -ma- in whatchamacallit, thingamabob, thingamajig, thingumajog, and gigamaree.