World Wide Words logo   Q From Imelda Anwar, Singapore: What is
the meaning of dealybob? Where did the word originate?  A This
puzzled me, too, since I’d never come across the word. An online
search suggested that it could be one of those hand-waving words
for a nameless small object or something whose name for the
moment one can’t remember, perhaps a thingummy or thingamajig, a
whatsisname, or a doohickey (“Put this dealybob on the end of a
hose, feed it into the drain pipe and turn on the water”). I’ve
also found it used for some unclassifiable event or activity
(“Data goes on a long, pointless Method Acting dealybob in this
last-season episode”). It seems to be originally and mainly
American.  As so often, it’s hard to find out where it comes
from, though it’s plausibly suggested that it derives from deal.
Several slang senses in American English are based on its
meaning of a business agreement or transaction. One of them is
some unspecified action or turn of events, as in expressions
like what’s the deal?