ringer
Someone who rings, especially a bell ringerSomeone who rings, especially a bell ringer.
Recorded: Commander Keane, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
» Tom is a dead ringer for John.
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6 sentencesTom is a dead ringer for John.
They're dead ringers for each other.
He's a dead ringer for his brother.
deEr sieht seinem Bruder zum Verwechseln ähnlich. — Luiaard
Meaning
15 sensesSomeone who rings, especially a bell ringer.
a person who rings church bells (as for summoning the congregation)
A person highly proficient at a skill or sport who is brought in, often fraudulently, to supplement a team.
Near-synonym: hustler
In this next clip from the security camera, we see that the rube flashing his wad of cash thinks he'll win, but he doesn't realize that the guy in the gray shirt is a ringer.
A person, animal, or entity which resembles another so closely as to be taken for the other; a look-alike (now usually in the phrase dead ringer).
That man over there is an exact ringer for my father!
More meanings 12
A crowbar.
A person who places rings or bands on a bird's leg.
(Australia)A stockman, a cowboy.
In the game of horseshoes, the event of the horseshoe landing around the pole.
(uncountable)A game of marbles where players attempt to knock each other's marbles out of a ring drawn on the ground.
(Australia)The champion shearer of a shearing shed.
A horse fraudulently entered in a race using the name of another horse.
(UK, in compounds, informal)An officer having the specified number of rings (denoting rank) on the uniform sleeve.
A ringer T-shirt.
Origin
From Middle English ringere, rynger, ryngar, equivalent to ring (“to sound a bell”) + -er.From Middle English ringere, rynger, ryngar, equivalent to ring (“to sound a bell”) + -er.
From ring (“to surround”) + -er.
Unknown. Probably so named after the custom of ringing a bell to denote the winner of a contest or competition.
Some senses may derive from ring the changes (“run through variations; enliven; pass counterfeit money; trick a shopkeeper into giving too much change”).
Unclear. Compare ring of truth, and see the "fake, impostor" sense at Etymology 4.
From ring + -er, from the noun.
Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Forms
plural: ringersSynonyms
5 synonyms- a person who rings church bells (as for summoning the congregation):tollerbell ringer
- a person who is almost identical to another:dead ringerclone
Word family
2 related wordsSee also
neighbours in the dictionaryDictionary text adapted from Wiktionary (Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet / Princeton WordNet (CC BY 4.0, WordNet License); shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Example sentences and recordings are credited where they appear.