Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (Aus.) to penalize.

1933		N. Lindsay Saturdee (1977) 98: Moreover, he pinged Bunky Rodgers for harnessing his very own poodle to a go-cart.
1994		Sun. Herald Sun (Melbourne) 1 Mar. 52: As for the emergency umpires, it seems their sole purpose is to sit on the boundary and ping players for the slightest infringement.
2003		Age (Melbourne) 24 Feb. 🌐 Coincidentally, I have found myself victimised in a very similar way: recently I was pinged for ‘driving under the influence’ and lost my licence.

2. (Aus./N.Z., also ping over) to hit or beat, to shoot [the pinging noise of a musket].

[1917		A. Wright diary 10 June in Muddy France (1988) 10: We must have been seen as they opened their machine gun on us, and their bullets kept pinging by our ears, ping, ping].
1933		N. Lindsay Saturdee (1977) 113: With his blow-pipe he spattered it, and with his shot-ging he pinged it.
1977		(con. 1941) R. Beilby Gunner 182: Someone’s pinged one of the Cyps.
1982		G. Newbold Big Huey 224: The Horse had already been pinged-over a couple of times [...] for failing to honour another debt.
1987		M. Bail Holden’s Performance (1989) 243: A .303 pinged off one of his toes, that’s all.
1992		‘Roy Slaven’ (John Doyle) Five South Coast Seasons 5: [B]ut Toze was keen on wearing a dolphin suit as a means of luring the smug bludgers in close enough so we could ping them sweet as a nut.
2001		D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 140/2: ping v. 1 (also ping over) to smash, to beat up, to assault.
2003		Herald (Glasgow) 7 Apr. n.p.: In a frequently brutal world, no-one ever mentions the word ‘Kill’. The vogue term for termination by gunfire, bayonet or grenade is ‘slotting’. Snipers ‘ping’ their targets, an expression with roots dating back to the trench warfare of the first world war. Enemies can be ‘wasted’, ‘totalled’ or ‘blown away’, but never killed.

3. (N.Z. drugs) to inject narcotics [ext. of sense 1, i.e. shoot v. (6a)].

1986		TV1 ‘Close Up’ [TV script] Today Gretchen [an addict] has pinged, that is injected with an illegal dose [DNZE].
1993		Metro (Auckland) Sept. 120: If it [i.e. a drug] got him high and was injectable, he’d ping it [DNZE].

4. (Aus.) in fig. use of sense 2, to move very fast, to rush forward.

1996

J. Byrell Lairs, Urgers & Coat-Tuggers 334: [I]n an open event where there are no dead-set super-starters who will ‘fly the lids’ and ping to the lead, it’s also not a bad idea to avoid the 3, 4 and 5 ‘squeeze’ boxes.

5. (UK black) to consume MDMA.

2017

hubpages.com ‘Roadman Slang 10 Jan. 🌐 To ping - to take ecstasy.

6. (UK black) of an event, to be enjoyable, active.

2021

Central Cee ‘Pinging’ 🎵 Sellin’ them party drugs, I’m the one that got the party pinging.