lin·go

(lĭng′gō)

n. pl. lin·goes

The specialized vocabulary of a particular field or social group, especially when viewed as unfamiliar: computer lingo; the lingo of the local residents of the island; "the lingo that rough union guys used among themselves" (Philip Roth).

[Perhaps from Portuguese lingoa, tongue, language, or from Lingua Franca lingua, language; akin to Catalan llengua, Italian lingua, and Spanish lengua, tongue, language, all ultimately from Latin lingua; see dn̥ghū- in Indo-European roots.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

lingo

(ˈlɪŋɡəʊ)

n, pl -goes

(Linguistics) informal any foreign or unfamiliar language, jargon, etc

[C17: perhaps from lingua franca; compare Portuguese lingoa tongue]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

lin•go

(ˈlɪŋ goʊ)

n., pl. -goes.

1. the language or vocabulary, esp. the jargon or slang, of a particular field, group, or individual.

2. language or speech, esp. if strange or foreign.

[1650–60; appar. alter. of lingua (franca)]

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun

lingo - a characteristic language of a particular group (as among thieves); "they don't speak our lingo"

argot, jargon, patois, vernacular, slang, cant

bite - a portion removed from the whole; "the government's weekly bite from my paycheck"

swiz - British slang for a swindle

heist, rip-off - the act of stealing

shakedown - extortion of money (as by blackmail)

power trip - (slang) a self-aggrandizing action undertaken simply for the pleasure of exercising control over other people

nookie, nooky, piece of tail, roll in the hay, screwing, screw - slang for sexual intercourse

dekko - British slang for a look

square-bashing - drill on a barracks square

shakedown - a very thorough search of a person or a place; "a shakedown by the police uncovered the drugs"

caff - informal British term for a cafe

deck - street name for a packet of illegal drugs

gat, rod - a gangster's pistol

Mickey Finn - slang term for knockout drops

nick - (British slang) a prison; "he's in the nick"

dreck, schlock, shlock - merchandise that is shoddy or inferior

cert - an absolute certainty; "it's a dead cert"

legs - staying power; "that old Broadway play really has legs"

soup-strainer, toothbrush - slang for a mustache

bunghole - vulgar slang for anus

bay window, potbelly, tummy, corporation, pot - slang for a paunch

niff, pong - an unpleasant smell

street name - slang for something (especially for an illegal drug); "`smack' is a street name for heroin"

corker - (dated slang) a remarkable or excellent thing or person; "that story was a corker"

hooey, poppycock, stuff and nonsense, stuff - senseless talk; "don't give me that stuff"

baloney, bilgewater, boloney, bosh, drool, humbug, tommyrot, tosh, twaddle, taradiddle, tarradiddle - pretentious or silly talk or writing

codswallop, folderol, trumpery, wish-wash, applesauce, tripe, rubbish, trash - nonsensical talk or writing

skin flick - a pornographic movie

dibs - a claim of rights; "I have dibs on that last slice of pizza"

non-standard speech - speech that differs from the usual accepted, easily recognizable speech of native adult members of a speech community

rhyming slang - slang that replaces words with rhyming words or expressions and then typically omits the rhyming component; "Cockney rhyming slang"

bunfight, bun-fight - (Briticism) a grand formal party on an important occasion

burnup - a high-speed motorcycle race on a public road

nosh-up - a large satisfying meal

hood - (slang) a neighborhood

'hood - (slang) a neighborhood

airhead - a flighty scatterbrained simpleton; "she's a total airhead"; "every airhead on a big salary rushed out to buy one"

babe, sister, baby - (slang) sometimes used as a term of address for attractive young women

bad egg - (old-fashioned slang) a bad person

boffin - (British slang) a scientist or technician engaged in military research

good egg - (old-fashioned slang) a good person

guvnor - (British slang) boss

old man - (slang) boss

out-and-outer - someone who is excellent at something

schlockmeister, shlockmeister - (slang) a merchant who deals in shoddy or inferior merchandise

squeeze - (slang) a person's girlfriend or boyfriend; "she was his main squeeze"

suit - (slang) a businessman dressed in a business suit; "all the suits care about is the bottom line"

tripper - (slang) someone who has taken a psychedelic drug and is undergoing hallucinations

juice - electric current; "when the wiring was finished they turned on the juice"

big bucks, big money, megabucks, pile, bundle - a large sum of money (especially as pay or profit); "she made a bundle selling real estate"; "they sank megabucks into their new house"

key - a kilogram of a narcotic drug; "they were carrying two keys of heroin"

skinful - a quantity of alcoholic drink sufficient to make you drunk; "someone had to drive me home last night because I had a skinful"

juice - energetic vitality; "her creative juices were flowing"

the trots - obscene terms for diarrhea

heebie-jeebies, jitters, screaming meemies - extreme nervousness

lingo

noun (Informal) language, jargon, dialect, talk, speech, tongue, idiom, vernacular, patter, cant, patois, argot I don't speak the lingo.

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

lingo

noun

1. A variety of a language that differs from the standard form:

argot, cant, dialect, jargon, patois, vernacular.

2. Specialized expressions indigenous to a particular field, subject, trade, or subculture:

argot, cant, dialect, idiom, jargon, language, lexicon, patois, terminology, vernacular, vocabulary.

Translations

gergo linguaggio

lingo

[ˈlɪŋgəʊ] N (lingoes (pl)) (= language) → lengua f, idioma m; (= specialist jargon) → jerga f

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

lingo

[ˈlɪŋgəʊ] [lingoes] (pl) n

(= jargon) → jargon m

(= language) → langue f

lingo

n (inf) → Sprache f; (= specialist jargon) → Jargon m, → Kauderwelsch nt (inf); I don’t speak the lingo → ich kann die Sprache (hier/dort) nicht (inf)

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

lingo

[ˈlɪŋgəʊ] n (fam, pej) qualunque lingua straniera che risulti incomprensibile; (jargon) → gergo

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

By the way," he added, turning over the paper to read the entertaining and instructive Fables, "I know the Heathenese lingo. Ying Shing means Rock Creek; it is in the Province of Wyo Ming."

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I say, Professor," Tom called back to the savant, "you'd better speak to him in his lingo, I can't manage it.

View in context

We don't understand half of the sea lingo, Mum, and I dare say it's all wrong," cried Will, suddenly going over to the enemy, to Geordie's great disgust.

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"As they turned them over one seemed still alive and, would you believe it, he jabbered something in their lingo."

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And as for language, if you want to hear the dictionary overhauled like a log-line in a blow, you must go to Wapping and listen to the Lon’oners as they deal out their lingo. Howsomever, I see no such mighty matter that Miss Lizzy has been doing to you, good woman; so take another drop of your brews and forgive and forget, like an honest soul,”

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And it was the nixt mornin', sure, jist as I was making up me mind whither it wouldn't be the purlite thing to sind a bit o' writin' to the widdy by way of a love-litter, when up com'd the delivery servant wid an illigant card, and he tould me that the name on it (for I niver could rade the copperplate printin on account of being lift handed) was all about Mounseer, the Count, A Goose, Look -- aisy, Maiter-di-dauns, and that the houl of the divilish lingo was the spalpeeny long name of the little ould furrener Frinchman as lived over the way.

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I tell you, I don't understand the lingo: but I can read a journal, or the London Evening Post.

View in context

But it warn't no use; he stormed right along, and said any man that pretended to be an Englishman and couldn't imitate the lingo no better than what he did was a fraud and a liar.

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'Puarkee!' exclaimed Kory-Kory, looking complacently at the dish; and from that day to this I have never forgotten that such is the designation of a pig in the Typee lingo.

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He wasn't of their tribe, and he couldn't talk their lingo, was the way he put it to himself.

View in context

No, they did not "sabbe," or at least they shook their heads to that effect, though they chattered most comprehendingly to one another in their own lingo. I pulled up three or four of the bottom boards, got a couple of buckets from a locker, and by unmistakable sign-language invited them to fall to.

View in context

You'd like the Spanish lingo, Sarah, for expressing yourself in such ways, and you'd have liked old Paloma, too.

View in context