Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (UK Und.) the passing of stolen goods to a confederate.

1789		G. Parker Life’s Painter 141: I’ll give you a rum ding of a tick or a reader.
1833		[T. Wontner] Old Bailey Experience 361: [O]ne [pickpocket] commits the act and another receives the article from the thief, which is called taking ‘ding’.

2. a notice of rejection, a negative assessment.

1949–51		in M. Daly Profile of Youth 110: A ‘ding’ is a statement by one fraternity member that he doesn’t want a particular boy in the fraternity.
1982		W. Safire What’s the Good Word? 56: I’m papering the wall behind my desk with dings.
1987		(con. 1967) Bunch & Cole Reckoning for Kings (1989) 317: Who was he [...] to cast the first ding on a man’s 201 file.

3. (Aus.) a hole in the bottom of anything.

1984

Partridge DSUE (8th edn) 309/2: since late 1950s.

4. (Aus.) the anus.

1957		‘Nino Culotta’ They’re a Weird Mob (1958) 106: Been sittin’ on our dings the last ’alf hour waitin’ for yer.
1989		R. McDonald Rough Wallaby 211: He invented this character for her, where she was nine hundred years old, ugly as a rat’s ding.

5. of an object, a small knock or dent.

1972		B. Rodgers Queens’ Vernacular 62: ding (surfer sl = a chip or mar in a surfboard) hole, chip or trace of damage.
1982		W. Safire What’s The Good Word? 54: My ’40 Ford Woody has a ding in the fender.
1988		McGill Dict. of Kiwi Sl. 36/2: ding a dent, usually in a car, of a minor nature; also the minor accident itself; probably from archaic English word meaning ‘to strike’.
1993		Aus. Word Map 🌐 ding2 a dent in a car panel: a ding on his passenger door.
2003		McGill Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. [as cit. 1988].
2018		(con. 1963) L. Berney November Road 196: ‘Most kids do [have falls], I imagine,’ he said. ‘I just happen to have the ding to prove it’.

6. (orig. US) of a person, a minor injury, a bruise.

1978

J. Webb Fields of Fire (1980) 71: Homicide has a ding up the side of his head.