‣ dingly adjective idiotic 20-.
‣ dingly prat noun a silly person 20-. etymology: possibly development from Romany dinnelo ‘a fool, one possessed by the devil’; dingley prat attested and collected by JS note:
A descendant of a family called Blyth from the Borders gave me what I think is possibly a folk etymology: ‘this is derived from Dingleton Hospital, the former psychiatric unit in Melrose, Roxburghshire. The hospital closed 2001.’ This word in the sense of ‘an insane person’ is also used by non-Travellers.
Smart & Crofton (1875) collected the forms Dínilo, Dínlo, Dinlée, f., Dínvero ‘a fool’ from English Gypsies.