Definition of "ping" []

• A sharp, high-pitched sound, as that made by a bullet striking metal. (noun)
• See knock. (noun)
• To make a sharp, high-pitched, metallic sound. (verb-intransitive)
• A protocol that sends a message to another computer and waits for acknowledgment, often used to check if another computer on a network is reachable. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Here, on the terrace where I sit, and where ladies in needlessly costly robes are promenading up and down to exhibit their superfluous wealth ostentatiously to one another, my ear is continuously assailed by the constant _ping, ping, ping_ of the pigeon-shooting, and my peace disturbed by the flapping death-agonies of those miserable victims."
• "There was the _ping, ping, ping_, of the mosquitoes, and the piteous wailing shriek of the jackals as they hunted in a pack, and there, too, was the monotonous tramp of the sentry, hour after hour."
• "Then I came back to my laptop and saw a ping from the culprit."