n.
the short, thick first digit of the hand, set lower and apart from the other four and opposable to them.
v.
- press, touch, or indicate with one's thumb.
- turn over (pages) with or as if with one's thumb.
▸
[usu. as adj. thumbed]
wear or soil (a book's pages) by repeated handling.
- request or obtain (a free ride in a passing vehicle) by signalling with one's thumb.
Phrase
- thumb one's nose at
informal show disdain or contempt for.
[with ref. to the gesture of putting one's thumb on one's nose and spreading the fingers.]
- thumbs up
(or down)
informal an indication of satisfaction or approval (or of rejection or failure).
[with ref. to the signal of approval or disapproval used by spectators at a Roman amphitheatre (although the Romans used the symbols in reverse).]
- under someone's thumb
completely under someone's influence or control.
Derivative
- thumbed adj.
- thumbless adj.
Etymology
OE thūma, of W. Gmc origin.
