a. A shoemaker’s or sailmaker’s thimble (see quot. 1794).
1589. Nashe, Martin’s Months Minde, Wks. (Grosart), I. 196. Farewell old shoes, thombe stall, and clouting lether.
1755. Johnson, Thumstall, a thimble.
1794. Rigging & Seamanship, I. 90. Thumb-stall. a ferrule, made of iron, horn, or leather, with the edges turned up, to receive the thread in sewing. It is worn on the thumb to tighten the stitches.
1877. Knight, Dict. Mech., Thumb stall … 2, a sailor’s thimble used in sail-making.
b. A sheath worn on the thumb to protect it when injured.
1654. Gayton, Pleas. Notes, III. v. 97. Gloves cut into thumbstals.
1792. Burns, Lett. to Creech, 16 April (in W. Brown’s Catal., Aug. [1905], 64). As much mine as the thumb-stall I have just now drawn on my finger, which I unfortunately gashed in mending my pen.
1904. Eng. Dial. Dict., s.v. Thumb 2, Thumb-cap, a thumb-stall or covering for the thumb.
c. Eccl. = POUCER: see quots.
1849. Rock, Ch. of Fathers, II. vi. 167. [The bishop’s] thumbstal was put upon the right hand thumb that had been dipped into the chrism.
1872. Shipley, Gloss. Eccl. Terms, Pouser, a thumbstall of silver or other precious metal, used formerly by bishops for anointing in confirmation.
d. Mil. In obsolete artillery: see quot.
1864. in Webster.
1877. Knight, Dict. Mech., Thumbstall 1. (Ordnance), a stall of buckskin stuffed with hair, which a cannoneer wears on his thumb to cover the vent while the piece is being sponged and loaded.
