Brewer's: Ding-dong

They went at it ding-dong. Fighting in good earnest. To ding is to beat or bruise (Saxon dencgan) dong is a responsive word. One gives a ding and the other a dong.

Din is the Anglo-Saxon dyn-ian to make a din; dinung a dinning noise.

Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
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