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gizmo love

gizmo

Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A mechanical device or part whose name is forgotten or unknown; a gadget.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A nonsensical placeholder name for something that one does not know the proper term for; gadget; whatchamacallit; thingamajig.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun something unspecified whose name is either forgotten or not known
  • noun a device or control that is very useful for a particular job

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Origin unknown.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Unknown

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Examples

  • We can watch for what we call the gizmo down at the right-hand corner of your screen.

    CNN Transcript Oct 16, 2008 2008

  • The voting stays open for one week, so please take the time to pick your favorite ... the voting gizmo is right over there on the sidebar.

    Archive 2010-04-01 Cromsblood 2010

  • This little gizmo is going to make the controller REALLY motion sensitive, not just a little motion sensitive.

    New Wii MotionPlus lets you play Tennis, Golf or Tennis 2009

  • If people are passive, apathetic lumps who can do nothing but swallow whole whatever new widget or gizmo is shoved in front of them, the I supposed a certain social degeneration is unavoidable.

    Matthew Yglesias » Time Is Not On Our Side 2010

  • The 2. 8-ounce gizmo is under a half-inch thick and smaller than a deck of cards.

    CES: Television for iPhone, BlackBerry, laptops 2010

  • The voting stays open for one week, so please take the time to pick your favorite ... the voting gizmo is right over there on the sidebar.

    CROM! Header Contest Finalists! Cromsblood 2010

  • CrazyPC's latest 5.25 drive-bay gizmo is a toaster for your PC.

    Boing Boing 2008

  • So if you are an "active adult learner", this little gizmo is quite amazing!

    XM RADIO IN CENTRAL MEXICO 2006

  • But the TV-B-Gone gizmo is on my wish list, for sure.

    my new hero 2005

  • I knew the call gizmo was knotted around one of the slats on the side of the mattress, so I went searching for it, sending my hand down the side of the bed and far out of sight.

    Hoopi Shoopi Donna Suzanne Strempek Shea 1996

Comments

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  • alexz commented on the word gizmo

    1966 Popular Science Monthly refers to a gadget as a Gizmo http://goo.gl/26CJ7 (google Books)

    1949 Popular Mechanics has ads from Gizmo Tool Company. http://goo.gl/g0yr0 (google books)

    http://goo.gl/jUlht 1946 Billboard mentions Gizmo, and that it is in NBC's technical dictionary 'Television Talk'. Television Talk is a 1946 book as well. http://goo.gl/daLBE

    1945 Life Magazine attributes Gizmo to Marine and Navy slang. http://goo.gl/nE3YL

    1942 Leatherneck magazine http://goo.gl/t20mc documented use of Marine slang.

    1940 Successful servicing - an electronics repair guide refers to an electronic component as a gizmo http://goo.gl/IcMb7 "It's a new gizmo..."

    This word seems to have come from electronic techies c. 1940.

    January 2, 2013