dingleberry

noun

1. Vaccinium erythrocarpum, the southern mountain cranberry.

   “dingleberries, or mountain-cranberries (Huge'ria, syn. Oxycoccoi'des), cranberries (Oxycoc'cus)”

   “Helen sat on the ground crumbling hard lumps of clay between her fingers, and tried to imagine the green place in the swamp where the dingleberries grew.”

   “Vaccinium erythrocarpum, the dingleberry, sometimes produces berries of excellent flavor, which are used locally for jellies; Uphof (1968) reports that this species has been recommended for cultivation.”

2. (derogatory, slang)A stupid or foolish person.
3. (derogatory, slang)Dried fecal matter adhering to anal hair.
4. (dated)Any residual irregularity following processing.

   “The contour of the root bead is very irregular and solidified drops of metal, "cherries" or "dingleberries," extend therefrom evidencing burn-throughs.”

   “That still left the problem of deciding on the "dingleberries"—the employees who would be exempt from seniority restrictions because of "special skills and outstanding abilities."”

   “It is theorized that when the surface velocity is below certain minimum values the material at the interface between workpieces WP-1 and WP-2 rolls up and extrudes from the interface in the form of long twisted cylindrical projections which are sometimes referred to as "dingle-berries."”