sb. Also ting-tong. [Echoic.] A succession of two ringing sounds, differing in tone or force.
1. The alternating sound made by the ringing of a small bell; hence transf. a small bell, esp. the sanctus bell. In quot. 1680 advb.
1680. V. Alsop, Mischief of Impos., Ep. Ded. That [bell] which … goes Ting tang, ting tang, before the Hoste, when carried to the sick.
a. 1800. Pegge, Suppl. Grose, Ting-Tang, called in the South The Saint’s-bell.
1808–18. Jamieson, Ting-tang, sound of a bell.
a. 1825. Forby, Voc. E. Anglia, Ting-tang, a small and shrill bell, to summon the family to dinner, the congregation to prayers, &c.
1848. Noake, Rambler Worc., I. 308. There is a peal of six bells, besides a ‘ting tang.’
1881. Miss Jackson, Shropsh. Word-bk., Ting-tang, a peal of two bells; a term derived from the sound—the lighter bell being ting, the heavier tang.
b. Jingling repetition of sounds, rhyme.
1686. F. Spence, trans. St. Euremont’s Misc., Pref. Blank-verse … without the necessity of cursing Arabique customs or Moorish innovations, which forced a man to spoil a good thought by tagging it with Ting-tong.
2. attrib., as ting-tang bell; ting-tang clock, see quot. 1884.
1777. in Picton, L’pool Munic. Rec. (1886), II. 278. A small or Ting Tang bell.
1862. Catal. Internat. Exhib., Brit., II. No. 3302. Ting tong carriage clock.
1875. J. W. Benson, Time & Time-tellers (1902), 99. St. Paul’s Cathedral Clock … may be described as a ting-tang quarter on the rack principle.
1884. F. J. Britten, Watch & Clockm., 265. Ting Tang Clock … [is] a clock that sounds the half hours or quarters on two bells only.
Hence Ting-tang v. dial. [cf. WFris. tingetangen].
1881. Miss Jackson, Shropsh. Word-bk., Ting-tang, to ring into church with two bells.
1888. W. Raymond, Misterton’s Mistake, viii. As if Wycherney volk had nothing … to do but to listen to hear the parish bell ting-tangey.
