humdinger
UK /hʌmˈdɪŋ.ə(ɹ)/ · US /hʌmˈdɪŋ.ɚ/ noun
Forms humdingers
- noun (informal) Something that is particularly outstanding, unusual, or exceptional. “Most of the questions were pretty easy, but that last one was a humdinger.”
Etymology
US origin, perhaps a blend of hummer (“something that moves fast”) + dinger (“something outstanding”). First attested in a newspaper article in the Daily Enterprise of June 4, 1883, at Livingston, Montana.
Sources: Wiktionary — from the Wiktionary entry “humdinger”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details