ping

1 of 2

noun

ˈpiŋ 

1

: a sharp sound like that of a striking bullet

2

: knock sense 2b

3

: the pulse of sound waves reflected from or emitted by a submerged object in submarine signaling or detection and heard by special apparatus

Baylor … trained his sound unit from one bearing to another, listening for submarines. It threw out a directional sound beam, a series of "pings." These pings, if they hit a solid object like a submarine, reflected back to the operator.

—William J. Lederer

4

: a signal sent from one computer to another across a network for usually diagnostic purposes (as to determine network speed or the status of the target computer)

With Napster, however, all you have to do is type in the name of the song or artist and up will pop 2,745 Phish songs sorted by the host computer's type of modem connection and ping rate.

—Karl Taro Greenfeld

ping

2 of 2

verb

pinged; pinging; pings

intransitive verb

1

: to make a ping

2

: to ricochet with a ping

gravel pinging off … the car

—Margaret Atwood

transitive verb

1

: to cause to ping

ping a bell

2

: to locate (something, such as a submerged object or submarine) by detecting the reflection of a pulse of sound waves : to send out a ping (see ping entry 1 sense 3) in order to locate (something)

We will have to follow this big old boy on the surface and then try to ping him with the sonar when he dives.

—Corwin Ericson

3

a

: to send a signal to (a computer) in order to determine its status or the status of the connecting network

Without realizing what he was doing, he pinged every server in a .gov domain. Next day, his ISP canceled his account; the retribution was swift and uncompromising.

—Bill Machrone

b

: to send a signal to (a device, such as a cell phone) in order to determine its status or location

Howell officers warned police agencies across the state. … Police pinged the man's phone to get its location.

—Andrew Ford

c

: to send a usually brief message (such as a text message) or notification to (a person, a person's phone, etc.)

… provides an opportunity to check the time or see who pinged you while you were coming down the mountain …

—Wired

Examples of ping in a Sentence

Verb

Pebbles pinged off the car.

Recent Examples on the Web

Verb

Before the ball could ping off the base of the near post and in, the home crowd was already skybound, ear-piercing in their celebrations. —Megan Feringa, New York Times, 3 July 2025

In a sea of health apps pinging you to meditate more and eat less, Noom is taking a different tack. —Shannon Carroll, Quartz, 3 June 2025

The sale was coordinated by someone using a phone that pinged off a cell tower near Centinela State Prison, according to the affidavit. —Matthew Ormseth, Los Angeles Times, 24 May 2025

Not only does Google enable 2G connections to be disabled where iPhone does not, but the Android-maker is now also launching a defense against these rogue cellular connections, warning when there’s any unencrypted connection or when a network is repeatedly pinging a phone for its identifiers. —Zak Doffman, Forbes.com, 27 June 2025

Word History

Etymology

Noun

imitative

First Known Use

Noun

1855, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Verb

1855, in the meaning defined at intransitive sense 1

Phrases Containing ping

• ping-pong

Rhymes for ping

• bing
• bring
• ching
• cling
• ding
• fling
• ging
• hing
• jing
• kling
• ling
• ming

Kids Definition

ping

noun

ˈpiŋ

1

: a sharp sound like that of a bullet striking

2

: knock entry 2 sense 3b

ping verb

Geographical Definition

Ping

geographical name

ˈpiŋ 

river 360 miles (579 kilometers) long in western Thailand flowing south-southeast to join the Nan River forming the Chao Phraya River