to drip, to drop, to fall in drops
1. to fall or flow in drops or small quantities
Water was dripping from the leaky faucet.
A água estava pingando da torneira com vazamento.
2. to make a dripping sound or motion
The rain was dripping from the roof.
A chuva estava pingando do telhado.
3. (colloquial) to approach or arrive gradually
People started dripping into the party around midnight.
As pessoas começaram a pingar na festa por volta da meia-noite.
4. (colloquial) to give hints or small pieces of information
He kept dropping hints about the surprise.
Ele continuava pingando dicas sobre a surpresa.
In Brazilian Portuguese, 'pingar' is an everyday verb used both literally for water dripping and figuratively in casual conversation. The colloquial usage of 'pingar' to mean arriving gradually or revealing information bit by bit is particularly common in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. In Portugal, 'gotejar' is the more standard alternative.
Related Idioms & Phrases
pingar de tristeza - to be very sad (to drip with sadness)
pingar na cara - to be obvious or evident
deixar pingar - to let drip, to allow information to leak slowly
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