thumb
/ˈθʌm/ noun, verb, proper noun
Forms thumbs thumbing thumbed the Thumb thum thume thumbe
- noun The shortest and thickest digit of the hand that for humans has the most mobility and can be made to oppose (moved to touch) all of the other fingers.
- noun (graphical user interface) The part of a slider that may be moved linearly along the slider. “a scroll-bar thumb”
- noun (colloquial, Internet) A thumbnail picture.
- noun A top hatch plate for covering an excavator bucket, used to keep material in the digger bucket after scooping it up, and not letting it spill out.
- verb (transitive) To touch or cover with the thumb. “to thumb the touch-hole of a cannon”
- verb (transitive, with through) To turn the pages of (a book) in order to read it cursorily. “thumb through”
- verb To gesture with the thumb, for example when flagging a ride.
- verb (travel) To hitchhike. “So I started thumbin' back east, toward my hometown.”
- verb To soil or wear with the thumb or the fingers; to soil, or wear out, by frequent handling.
- verb To manipulate (an object) with the thumb; especially, to pull back the hammer or open the cylinder of a revolver.
- verb To fire (a single action revolver) quickly by pulling the hammer while keeping the trigger depressed.
- proper noun (informal) The eastern part of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan, United States (the "Mitten").
Synonyms
pollex digit I first digit thumby peruse flip through browse leaf page ovolo quarter round hitchhike hitch flick flip riffle riff finger
Etymology
Derived from Middle English thombe, thoume, thoumbe (“thumb”), from Old English þūma (“thumb”), from Proto-West Germanic *þūmō (“thumb”), from Proto-Germanic *þūmô (“thumb”), from Proto-Indo-European *tūm- (“to grow”).
Cognate with West Frisian tomme (“thumb”), Dutch duim (“thumb”), Low German Duum (“thumb”), German Daumen (“thumb”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, and Norwegian Nynorsk tomme (“inch”), Norn tum (“thumb”), Swedish tumme (“thumb”), tum (“inch”), Russian дюйм (djujm, “inch”), Ancient Greek τύμβος (túmbos, “burial mound”). Also compare Welsh tyfu (“to grow”), Latin tumēre (“to swell”), Lithuanian tumėti (“to thicken, clot”), Avestan 𐬀𐬨𐬏𐬙 (amūt, “strong”), Sanskrit तुम्र (túmra, “strong, thick”). The parasitic ‐b has existed since the late 13th century. Doublet of tomb.
From its thumb-like shape.
Webster’s 1913
- noun The short, thick first digit of the human hand, differing from the other fingers in having but two phalanges; the pollex. See Pollex.
- verb To handle awkwardly. Johnson.
- verb To play with the thumbs, or with the thumbs and fingers; as, to thumb over a tune.
- verb To play with the thumb or thumbs; to play clumsily; to thrum.
Etymology [OE. thombe, thoumbe, , AS. ; akin to OFries. th, D. duim, G. daumen, OHG. d, Icel. , Dan. tommelfinger, Sw. tunne, and perhaps to L. tumere to swell. *56. Cf. Thimble, Tumid.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “thumb”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details