Green’s Dictionary of Slang

a nameless object, or person.

1842		Comic Almanack Jan. 303: A beautiful picture of a little Cupid [...] riding in a thingemygig, drawn by what-d’ye-call-’ems.
1846		Exeter & Plymouth Gaz. 7 Nov. 4/3: Oh no we never mention how his childhood flitted by, the thingumyjigs of his.
1867		‘Artemus Ward’ Artemus Ward in London in Complete Works (1922) 415: You went in at the place where they put the grain in, cum out with the straw, and you got up into the thingamyjig.
1875		Auckland Eve. Star (Supp.) 30 Oct. 6/2: Which of ’em’s got a leg like that? Which of ’em kin unscrew his knee-pan, and look at the gum thingamajigs in his calf.
1879		H. Hartigan Stray Leaves (2nd ser.) 139: [of a public house] Ye only tuk half-a-pint at the Red Cow! Yes; and a half-pint at the Blue Lion [...] half a pint at the thing-i-mi-jig.
1889		H.S. Edwards Two Runaways 210: He got ther critter propped up an’ ther thingermajig stropped on ter ’im .
1903		‘Hugh McHugh’ Out for the Coin 56: Tom Edison is working on a new thingamajig that won’t buckle the eccentric.
1911		Gem 23 Sept. iv: Here, you thingamyjig in the corner.
1915		G. Bronson-Howard God’s Man 212: Diamond tararas and stomach thingmajigs and strings of pearls.
1917		A. Brazil Madcap of the School 12: ‘I may do it at some personal sacrifice, but—’ ‘Personal thingumjig!’ interrupted Valentine.
1920		C. Sandburg ‘Manual System’ Smoke and Steel 31: Mary has a thingamajig clamped on her ears / And sits all day taking plugs out and sticking plugs in.
1934		D.L. Sayers Nine Tailors (1984) 134: One of the first things he does on Sunday mornings is to open the top thingumajig on the stove.
1945		(con. 1919) R. Westerby Mad in Pursuit 20: They signed the Peace thingamajig to-day.
1952		K. Vonnegut ‘The Package’ in Bagombo Snuff Box (1999) 46: I don’t know if this thingamajig works the air-conditioning or the garage doors [...] or what.
1964		R.P. Warren Flood 223: Another big gold thing-a-ma-jig with red stones.
1972		O. Hawkins Ghetto Sketches 40: Don’t tell me that fool is up blowin’ on that thang-a-majig again!
1979		D. Maitland Breaking Out 154: ‘You know. Like her, um, thingummyjib.’ ‘Her thingummyjib. Do you mean her genitals?’.
1982		N. Keesing Lily on the Dustbin 66: Mythical personalities or nonsense phrases for people and things whose names are forgotten or elusive are very common: ‘Whose-me-whatsit’, ‘thingmejig’, ‘oojar-capivio’ or ‘whatchamacallit’ [...] ‘whoflickie’, ‘whasmigig.’.
1987		‘Joe Bob Briggs’ Joe Bob Goes to the Drive-In 9: There’s a new thingumajig they can put on the projector that’ll cut through that gunk.
1994		G. Byrne Pictures in my Head 115: So here’s the sitch. I’ve signed [...] to do the thingummyjig, the lot.
1999		Indep. Rev. 17 Sept. 17: I plugged this into that [...] the what’s-its-name into the thingumajig.
2006		C. Hiaasen Nature Girl 84: He got his thingamajig pierced [...] His scrotum.
2012		R. Milward Kimberly’s Capital Punishment (2023) 422: Squirting 2.5ml after 2.5ml of thingymajig’s blood into a line of uptured lids.