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ringer

1 8.5

A throw that lands completely around the stake in games like horseshoes

noun
/ˈrɪŋər/

Jargon

: anillado

She heard the clang of the iron shoe hitting the iron post and the shout of the deacon who had made a ringer.
make a ringer

Examples

Marbles were little glass balls (nowadays ceramic marbles are used) that were used to play a game (in the most popular version of marbles, known as "ringer") that involved drawing a circle in sand, and then players would take turns knocking other players' marbles out of the circle with their own marble.

Blog text (15)
Hurl the ringer.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)
Mine's the three-ringer.

Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip (2015)
He scored a ringer by throwing the horseshoe perfectly around the stake.
During the championship, she managed to land three ringers in a row, impressing everyone.
Each ringer counts for three points in the horseshoes competition, making it a coveted move.

Compounds

dead ringer

Informal

9 7.4

A person who looks exactly like someone else

bell ringer

3 4.3

A person who rings bells in a church or musical group

bell ringer

Informal

1 7.0

A very successful result that does exactly what it should

Ringer solution

Specialized

6.5

A sterile salt solution used to replace body fluids and keep tissues alive

How Accurate

ringer

Jargon

1 8.5

leaner

Jargon

1 9.9

miss

73 3.1

Surface Forms

ringer singular

ringers plural

Morphology

ringer = ring (transparent) = ring + er

This is a regular suffixal formation from 'ring' + '-er', and the meaning of a successful encircling throw is directly recoverable from the base.

Etymology

Ringer in horseshoes and quoits comes from ring ('circle'), because a perfect throw makes the shoe or quoit go completely around the stake. That's why a ringer is the name for that perfect, circular throw.