dingle

WOTD – 25 August 2006

Wikipedia has an article on:

Dingle (disambiguation)

See also: Dingle

EnglishEdit

From Middle English dingle (“a deep hollow; dell”), from Old English *dyngel, a diminutive of Old English ding, dung (“dungeon; pit”), equivalent to dung +‎ -le. Compare also dimble (“a dingle, glen, retired place”).

dingle (plural dingles)

A small, narrow or enclosed, usually wooded valley.
- 1954, J. R. R. Tolkien, The Two Towers, Book III, Chapter 4
  Turning to the left and skirting this huge hedge Treebeard came in a few strides to a narrow entrance. Through it a worn path passed and dived suddenly down a long steep slope. The hobbits saw that they were descending into a great dingle, almost as round as a bowl, very wide and deep, crowned at the rim with the high dark evergreen hedge.

small, narrow or enclosed, usually wooded valley