Thumb sb.

Forms: α. 1 th-, ð-, þuma, 3 þume, 3–4 þoume, 4–5 (6 Sc.) thoume, thowme, 4–6 thome, 5 thomme, 6 thom, 7–8 thum, 8–9 Sc. and n. dial. thoum, thoom. β. 3–4 þoumbe, 4 (6 Sc.) thoumbe, 4–5 þombe, 4–7 thombe, 5 þ-, thowmbe, 6–7 thumbe, 4– thumb. γ. 4–5 tumb, toumbe. [OE. púma wk. masc. = OFris. thûma, tûma, tumma, wFris. tumme, tomme, Saterl. tūme, NFris. tüm, tim, OLG. *thûmo (MLG. dûme, LG. dûme, dûm; MDu. dûme, Du. duim), OHG. dûmo (MHG. dûme, Ger. daumen); ON. wanting (deriv. þumall thumb of a glove); Norw. tume, tumme, tome, Sw. tumme, Da. tomme inch, tommel:—OTeut. *þūmon-, pre-Teut. *tûmon- the stout or thick (finger), f. root tūmon- to swell: cf. Zend tûma fat, Skr. tūtumá strong, tumrá fat, L. tumēre to swell. In ME. the excrescent b after m is found c. 1290.]

  1.  The short thick inner digit of the human hand, opposable to the fingers, and distinguished from them by having only two phalanges; hence, gen., the inner digit of a limb when opposable to and set apart from the other digits (as in the Quadrumana and opossums).

a. 700.  Epinal Gloss., 821. Pollux, thuma.

a. 901.  Laws K. Ælfred, c. 56. ʓif se ðuma bið ofaslæʓen, þam sceal xxx scill. to bote.

c. 1000.  Sax. Leechd., III. 18. Swa greate swa ðin þuma.

a. 1225.  Ancr. R., 18. & makieð on ower muþe mit te þume a creoiz.

c. 1290.  S. Eng. Leg., I. 308/319. Strongue is þe þoumbe I-cleoped.

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 21244 (Cott.). Men sais þat of his thumb [G. tumb, F. thowme, T. þombe] he smate, And þat was noght bot for to fle.

c. 1375.  Lay Folks Mass Bk. (MS. B.), 158. Makes a cros vpon þo letter with his thoume.

13[?].  Minor Poems fr. Vernon MS., xxv. 296. Þi þhommes and þi ffyngres.

c. 1440.  Gesta Rom., xxii. 72 (Harl. MS.). Tho anon he toke the thome of the dede man, and made him to seal hit [a charter] with a fals seal.

c. 1475.  Pict. Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 749/31. Hic pollex, a thumb.

1507.  in Leadam, Sel. Cas. Star Chamber (Seld.), I. 260. They hade maymed one William Thomson … & cutte of his right thom.

1596.  Shaks., 1 Hen. IV., I. iii. 38. ’Twixt his Finger and his Thumbe, he held A Pouncet-box. Ibid. (1605), Macb. IV. i. 44. By the pricking of my Thumbes, Something wicked this way comes.

1662.  Reg. Privy Council Scotl., Ser. III. I. 237. They … tortured the women by waking, hanging them up by the thombes, burning the soles of their feet at the fyre.

1662.  Stillingfl., Orig. Sacr., III. i. § 16. The thumb, which may equally joyn with any of the fingers in taking hold of any thing.

1712.  trans. Pomet’s Hist. Drugs, I. 152. A round Stalk, the Thickness of two Thumbs.

1833.  Penny Cycl., I. 183/2. The hinder extremities [of the chimpanzee] are … marked by a thumb—a finger opposed to the other fingers. Ibid. (1840), XVI. 458/1. s.v. Opossum, The whole of this subfamily [Didelphidæ] have the inner toe of the hind foot converted into a thumb.

1869.  Hazlitt, Eng. Prov., 373. The richer the cobbler, the blacker his thumb.

1884.  Eliza A. Otis, Jack and Jill, in California (1905), 153.

1893.  Hodges, Elem. Photogr. (1907), 78. Held between the thumb and finger of the left hand.

  fig.  1895.  Baring-Gould, Noémi, xxii. I must have more men. I dare not leave Domme [a fortress] without a thumb on it to hold it down.

  † b.  The corresponding digit of the foot; the great toe. Obs.

1432–50.  trans. Higden (Rolls), II. 189. A thowmbe [L. pollex; Trevisa, greet too] in the ryȝhte foote of Pyrrhus kynge, the towchenge of whom ȝafe subsidy ageyne venom.

1535.  Coverdale, Judg. i. 6. They cut of the thombes of his handes and fete.

a. 1643.  J. Shute, Judgem. & Mercy, 38. Adonibezek cut off the thumbs both of the hands and feet of seventy kings.

  c.  In the lower animals generally: The inmost digit of the fore-foot; in a bird, the first digit of the wing, bearing the bastard-wing or alula; also the hind toe, inner hind toe, or hallux; in insects: see quot. 1826.

1607.  Topsell, Four-f. Beasts (1658), 424. The Nut-mouse,… upon his forefeet … hath four claws or distinct toes, for he wanteth a thumb.

1797.  Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3), XIV. 612/1. The fore-feet [of a seal] are like the human hand, the middle toe being the longest and the thumb short.

1826.  Kirby & Sp., Entomol., III. 370. Pollex (the Thumb). A small accessory joint, attached to the Ungula of the Manus in Mantis.

1828.  Stark, Elem. Nat. Hist., I. 116. [Lemming] Fore-feet pentadactylous; nail of the thumb short and rounded.

1854.  Owen, Skel. & Teeth, in Orr’s Circ. Sc. I. Org. Nat., 223. Those which are attached to the short outer digit,… erroneously called the ‘thumb,’ are the … bastard feathers.

1860.  Mayne, Expos. Lex., Thumb,… Ornithol., applied to a small bone of the hand, or third portion of the anterior extremity … also to the shortest toe…, situated behind…. Zool., applied to the first finger of the anterior extremity, or forefoot of certain of the Reptilia.

1872.  Coues, N. Amer. Birds, 30. The forefinger hand-bone sticks out a little from the side of the principal one, and bears on its end one finger-bone … which is commonly, but wrongly, called the bird’s ‘thumb.’

1894.  Newton, Dict. Birds, 737. Pollex, the thumb or first digit of the wing.

  2.  transf. The part of a glove or mitten that covers the thumb.

1888.  in Cassell’s Encycl. Dict.

  3.  A thing or part analogous to or in some way resembling a thumb; e.g., a projecting spar or stamp of a woody plant, a tool, etc.; also (cf. Tom Thumb) a diminutive animal or object; see quots.

1745.  trans. Columella’s Husb., IV. ii. Having remarked the thumb of the former year [superioris anni pollice] one may leave one or two eyes from which it may germinate.

1778.  [W. Marshall], Minutes Agric., 20 Sept. an. 1775. A com-fork, without the thumb, is the best.

1854.  N. & Q., 1st Ser. IX. 385/1. Three kinds…: the weasel, the stoat or stump, and the mousehunt or mousehunter, which is also called the thumb from its diminutive size.

1869.  [Thumbs and fingers in Color-printing: see FINGER sb. 11 b].

1901.  Chronicle, 25 Oct. (E.D.D., Staffs.). ‘Tot,’ a small mug, that held a quartern, sometimes also called a thumb.

1904.  Heilprin, in Science, XIX. 20 May, 803/2. The Indian figures will be found to represent the extremely acute ‘thumbs’ and pinnacles which surmount the trap plateau of different parts of Greenland.

  4.  As a measure (also more fully, thumb’s breadth): The breadth of the thumb, taken as equal to an inch. Also colloq. = a unit of strawberries.

  Formerly it was usual to allow a ‘thumb’ in addition to each yard (of cloth, etc.) measured; this is still the practice in the cloth trade.

[1611.  Cotgr., Poulcée, an inch, or inch-measure; the breadth of a thumbe.]

1622.  Malynes, Anc. Law-Merch., 52. A thumbe or Inch is 6 Graines or Barleycornes.

1634.  Sanderson, Serm., 1 Sam. xii., 3 § 29. False weights, false measures, false thumbs, false lights, false mark.

1711.  Act 10 Anne c. 16 § 4. One Table … with the Length of a Yard nailed or marked thereupon; to which shall be added one Inch more, which shall be used instead of that which is commonly called a Thumb’s Breadth.

1748.  Philad. Gaz., 11 Aug., 3/2. Those who saw the poor little Babe after its Death, say, That there was not a Thumb’s Breadth, between the Crown of its Head, and the Soles of its Feet, but what was cut, bruised, and mangled, in the most shocking Manner imaginable.

1803.  Morn. Post, 2 June, 3/4. There were also strawberries at Three Shillings a thumb. Gentle reader, the measurement of a thumb is sixteen strawberries; these thumbs were fingered away most rapidly, for of all the fruit the strawberries seemed the most in request.

1828.  [P. L. Gordon], Campanion for Visitor at Brussels, 23. A Belgium grandee has no inclination to give 70 francs for a pound of early grapes, or 20 for a thumb of strawberries in April.

1812.  J. Smyth, Pract. of Customs (1821), 126 (Linen). The practice of allowing what is termed a Thumb is now discontinued by the Board’s order [8th May 1806].

  5.  Phrases. a. Thumb of gold, a golden thumb, miller’s thumb: in reference either to the alleged dishonesty of millers or to the lucrative character of their trade. † b. To bring (a person) above the thumb, to turn over the thumb, to get or have under one’s control; cf. ‘to twist round one’s finger.’ Obs. c. One’s fingers all thumbs [etc.]: said of a person who is clumsy or wanting in dexterity. † d. To hit († cross) one over (of, on) the thumbs, to punish or reprove sharply, ‘rap one’s knuckles.’ e. (a) To bite one’s thumbs, as an indication of anger or vexation; (b) to bite the thumb at, as an insult: see BITE v. 16. † f. Under (the) thumb, secretly, confidentially. Obs. g. Under the thumb of, entirely at the disposal or direction of, completely subservient to. h. In expressions referring to the use of the thumb by the spectators in the ancient amphitheater, to indicate approbation or the opposite: see quot. 1880.

  a.  c. 1386–1876.  [see MILLER 1 b].

  b.  1469.  J. Paston, in P. Lett., II. 356. Thow thou can begyll the Dwk of Norffolk, and bryng hym abow the thombe as thow lyst, I let the wet thow shalt not do me so.

1577.  Northbrooke, Dicing, 48. The gaine gotten by this playe at Dice, where all is gotten with a trice ouer the thumbe.

1603.  Dekker, Wonderfull Yeare, F iv. Shee would haue tickled them, and turned them ouer the thumbs.

  c.  1546.  J. Heywood, Prov. (1562), G iij b. Whan he should get ought, eche fynger is a thumbe.

1870.  Sheffield & Rotherham Independent, 14 May, 1/4. Unless in the case of those whose fingers, as the Irishman said, are all thumbs, practice and assiduity will eventually accomplish a violinist, oboeist, or any other ‘ist’ belonging to the orchestra.

1870.  Echo, 16 Nov. Your uneducated man is all thumbs, as the phrase runs; and what education does for him is to supply him with clever fingers.

1872.  Routledge’s Ev. Boy’s Ann., 155/2. Whose fingers were reported … to be ‘all thumbs.’

  d.  1522.  Skelton, Thwartyng ouer thom [see THWART v. 2].

a. 1548.  Hall, Chron., Hen. VII., 33. In the later ende of hys oracion, he a lille rebuked the lady Margaret and hyt her of [Grafton on] the thombes.

1553.  T. Wilson, Rhet. (1580), 3. The Philosopher … did hit a yong man ouer the Thumbes verie handsomely, for vsyng ouer old, and ouer straunge woordes. Ibid., 137. I haue knowen some so hitte of the thumbes, that thei could not tell … whether [etc.].

1591.  Greene, Farew. to Follie, Wks. (Grosart), IX. 285. Peratio … thought to crosse Benedetto ouer the thumbs.

1594.  Lodge & Greene, Looking Glasse (Hunter. Cl.), 9. Well saed Smith, that crost him ouer the thumbs.

  e.  1573.  Satir. Poems Reform., xlii. 266. The Clerk was like to byte his thowmis.

1592.  Shaks., Rom. & Jul., I. I. 43–4. Sam. No, sir, I do not bite my thumb at you sir; but I bite my thumb, sir.

[1596.  Lodge, Wits Misery, 23. Giuing me the Fico with his thombe in his mouth.]

1608.  Dekker, Dead Term, D iv b. What shouldering, what Justling, what Jeering, what byting of Thumbs to beget quarels.

1638.  Randolph, Muses Looking-Gl., III. iii. Daggs, and Pistolls! To bite his thumb at me?

1670.  G. H., Hist. Cardinals, II. II. 158. The Spaniards were nettled, and bit their thumbs … in private.

1863.  Chambers’ Bk. Days, 11 March, I. 358. It is very probable that … the act of biting the thumb was not so much a gesture of insulting contempt as a threat.

  f.  1586.  J. Hooker, Hist. Irel., in Holinshed, II. 89/1. Diuerse other secret vnderminers, who wrought so cunninglie vnder the thumbe … as if Kildare had prospered,… their malice would not haue beene in manner suspected.

1596.  Dalrymple, trans. Leslie’s Hist. Scot., II. (S.T.S.), I. 171. This consuetude … was, as we vse to speik, vndir thoume stil reteined.

a. 1693.  Urquhart’s Rabelais, III. xxxvi. 299. Privily and under Thumb.

  g.  1754.  Richardson, Grandison, IV. xxix. 181. She … is obliged to be silent. I have her under my thumb.

1809.  Malkin, Gil Blas, VII. xiii. ¶ 6. Authors … are under the thumb of booksellers and players.

1889.  Jessopp, Coming of Friars, ii. 65. The lord was a petty king, having his subjects very much under his thumb.

  h.  1601.  Holland, Pliny, XXVIII. ii. 297. To bend or bow downe the thumbes when wee give assent unto a thing, or doe favour any person.

1693.  Dryden, Juvenal’s Sat., iii. 68. Where … With Thumbs bent back, they popularly kill.

1880.  Lewis & Short, s.v. Pollex, To close down the thumb (premere) was a sign of approbation; to extend it (vertere, convertere; pollex infestus) a sign of disapprobation.

1887.  R. Garnett, Life Carlyle, iv. They had unanimously turned their thumbs up. ‘Sartor,’ the publisher acquainted him, ‘excites universal disapprobation.’

1907.  R. Y. Tyrrell, in Academy, 9 March, 234/1. ‘Thumbs down’ means ‘spare him…’: the signal for death was ‘thumbs up.’

  i.  To get one’s thumb out of (a person’s) mouth, to escape from, to get out of the clutches of. † The finger next one’s thumb, one’s closest friend. So † to be finger and thumb, to be on intimate terms. † A thumb under the girdle: an expression denoting reserve or unsociableness. † To a cow’s thumb, exactly, perfectly, to a hair. There’s my thumb (Sc.), in asseveration, in allusion to the practice of licking the thumb in sealing a bargain; see thumb-licking in 6. Above one’s thumb (Sc.), beyond one’s reach or ability. To fash one’s thumb (Sc.), to put oneself out, to worry or concern oneself. To clap, put, or keep the thumb on (Sc.), to keep secret. To whistle on one’s thumb (Sc.): cf. to pipe in an ivy-leaf (see IVY-LEAF). As easy as kiss my thumb. See also RULE OF THUMB.

1481.  Caxton, Reynard, xx. (Arb.), 49. I shal by my wille neuer more come in the kynges daunger, I haue now goten my thombe out of his mouth.

1579.  Lyly, Euphues (Arb.), 68. In yat thou crauest my aide, assure thy selfe I will be the finger next thy thombe.

1607.  Walkington, Opt. Glass, 130. Wee count a melancholicke man … the aqua-fortis of merry company, a thumb vnder the girdle.

a. 1613.  Overbury, Charac., Old Man (1614), E iij b. They call the thombe vnder the girdle grauitie.

1681.  T. Flatman, Heraclitus Ridens, No. 40 (1713), II. 2. Let him alone, he’ll trim their Whiskers and comb their Perukes for them to a Cow’s thumb.

1722.  Ramsay, Three Bonnets, III. 104. There’s my thumb That, while I breathe, I’se ne’er beguile ye.

1730–6.  Bailey (folio), s.v., They are Finger and Thumb, that is, they are so great together, there is no parting them.

1766.  A. Nicol, Poems, 59 (E.D.D.). Your match is nane aboon your thumb.

1786.  Burns, Earnest Cry & Prayer, v. Speak out, an’ never fash your thumb.

1818.  Scott, Hrt. Midl., xviii. We’ll leave Mr. Sharpitlaw to whistle on his thumb.

1825.  Jamieson, s.v., To Clap or Put the Thoum on any thing, to conceal it carefully,… keep it secret.

1838.  W. Bell, Dict. Law Scot., Licking of Thumbs, a symbolical mode of indicating that a bargain has been concluded.

1891.  A. J. Munby, Vulgar Verses, 101. I lay it’s as easy as kiss-my-thumb, For to have my way wi’ her.

1893.  Nemaha County (KS) Republican, 5 June, 2/5. ‘She says every time Moses puts his thumb on the scales it weighs a pound.’ ‘Who is Moses Willie?’ ‘He’th our butcher, mith.’

  6.  attrib. and Comb. a. Simple attrib., as thumb-bone, -breadth, -joint, -knuckle, -unction; b. in names of objects of comparatively diminutive size, as thumb-book, -brush, -wren; c. in names of mechanical devices operated by the thumb, or of parts on which the thumb presses in grasping, etc., as thumb-catch, -cock, -ferule, -hole, -latch, -lever, -milling, -nut, -reel, sneck, -switch, -wheel; d. objective, instrumental, etc., as thumb-sucking; thumb-like, -made, -worn adjs. e. Special combs.: thumb-ball, the ball of the thumb (BALL sb.¹ 15); thumb bird, a local name for the Goldcrest; thumb-bit, thumb-blue, † thumb-bolts sb. pl.: see quots.; † thumb-case, a thumb-stall; thumb-cleat Naut.: see quot.; thumb-finger, the thumb; thumb-fingered a., clumsy, not dexterous (cf. 5 c); thumb-hand dial., the right hand; thumb-index, a reference-index consisting of grooves cut in the front edges of the leaves, or formerly of projecting tabs, or margins so cut as to show initial letters or titles, so that any division may be turned to by placing the thumb or finger on the proper initial, etc.; thumb-kissing, the kissing of the thumb with which the book is held instead of the book itself in taking an oath; thumb-knot = overhand knot: see OVERHAND a. 4; thumb-lancet, the usual form of lancet, having a broad two-edged blade; thumb-licking (Sc.), the licking and joining of thumbs by the parties concerned in token of the completion of a bargain; thumb-lock, (a) a kind of lock that is opened by pressing with the thumb; (b) pl. = THUMB-SCREW sb. 2; thumb-loose (LOOSE sb. 1] Archery, a method of releasing the bow-string with the thumb: cf. THUMB-RING c; † thumb-measure: see quot. and cf. 4; thumb-mold, a small mold usually having designs in intaglio, into which the clay is pressed with the thumb in making ornaments for the decoration of ware (Cent. Dict., Suppl., 1909); thumb-pad, a pad covering the inner metacarpal bone in some batrachians (Cent. Dict., 1891); thumb-pin = thumb-tack; thumb-piston = PISTON 2 b; thumb position, in violoncello playing, a position in which the thumb serves as a movable ‘nut’; thumb-pot, (a) a flower-pot of the smallest size; (b) see quot. 1885; thumb print, the impression or mark of the inner surface of the top joint of the thumb, made with ink or otherwise upon a receptive surface; thumb-printing, the use of ‘thumbs and fingers’ (see FINGER sb. 11 b) in the aquatint process; thumb-read v., trans. to read cursorily; to turn the pages of (a book) with the thumb in glancing through it; thumb-register = thumb-index; thumb-rule = RULE OF THUMB; thumb-tack, a tack with a broad head, which may be pushed in with the thumb. See also THUMB-BAND, etc.

1821.  Blackw. Mag., VIII. 430. Along his *thumb-ball, Will his pen-knife tries.

1885.  Swainson, Provinc. Names Birds, 25. Goldcrest (Regulus cristatus)…. Miller’s thumb (Roxburgh). *Thumb bird (Hants).

1847–78.  Halliwell, *Thumb-bit, a piece of meat eaten on bread, so called from the thumb being placed on it. [Cf. THUMB-PIECE b.]

1858.  Simmonds, Dict. Trade, *Thumb-blue, a name for small knobs of indigo used by washerwomen.

1711.  C. Lockyer, Acc. Trade India, iv. 95. I understand Congas [ = cangue] to be *Thumbolts.

c. 1375.  Sc. Leg. Saints, xxxvi. (Baptista), 882. A-pon þe autere scho saw ly As a *thoume-bane propirly.

1715.  M. Davies, Athen. Brit., I. 77. A little *Thumb-Book, or Pamphlet, call’d, ‘The Office of the Virgin Mary.’

1846.  Browning, Lett., 20 July. You can’t write ‘so many lines a day’ any more than you can paint a picture by *thumb-breadths.

1597.  A. M., trans. Guillemeau’s Fr. Chirurg., 39 b/2. As touching the thumnbe and the fingers, we must haue a *thumbcase.

1844.  Stephens, Bk. Farm, I. 139. 2 shutters … to open on hinges, and fasten inside with a *thumb-catch.

1867.  Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., *Thumb-cleat, in shape resembling a thumb.

1886.  R. C. Leslie, Sea-painter’s Log, vi. 137. Clumsy thumb-cleats, with more clothes-line twining about them.

1826.  Sporting Mag., XVIII. 326. The cap and the *thumb-ferrel on the four-horse whips.

1855.  J. Davies, Races of Lanc., in Trans. Philol. Soc., 276, note. A word I have occasionally heard in my boyhood, though now obsolete, *thumb-finger.

1906.  Westm. Gaz., 11 Aug., 16/1. The inner flight feathers grow first, leaving the thumb finger free until the feathers have grown long enough.

1889.  Even. Journal (Wilmington, DE), 22 April. 3/3. Mr. Quinn said in substance that any green *thumb fingered galoot could put the balls in the pockets [at pool] quicker than Mr. Plunkett could.

1903.  Med. Rec., 28 Feb., 335. Iridectomy must be skilfully and delicately performed. No thumb-fingered tyro need attempt it with hope of success.

1750.  The Student, I. 332. For tho’ his outward-man was at work for Billy Tiplington, the dust-man, at the third house of your *thumb-hand in Blow-Bladder-Street, yet his mind doubtless was buried in erecting fabricks more superb than those of Venice, and furnishing them with laws very little inferior to those of Solon or Lycurgus.

1907.  N. & Q., 10th Ser. VII. 467/1. This remarkable expression … heard in the neighbourhood of Sheffield … ‘Ye mun go down there, and keep to t’ thomb-hand side.’

1859.  Gullick & Timbs, Paint., 199. The *‘thumb-hole’ is, however, of recent introduction, and replaced projecting handles.

1902.  Daily Chron., 24 Jan., 5/1. I was worrying about that palette of yours. Couldn’t you have the thumb-hole in it padded?

1903.  Periodical, July, 16. The Oxford *Thumb-Index Bible is the latest novelty.

1853.  Carleton, Traits, etc., Irish Peas. (1860), II. 5. *Thumb-kissing is another feature in Paddy’s adroitness.

1795.  Hutton, Math. Dict., s.v. Knot, A *Thumb knot … the simplest of all. It is used … by taylors &c. at the end of their thread.

1869.  Blackmore, Lorna D., ii. The Lord be with thee, Jan, and turn thy *thumb-knuckle inwards.

1903.  Med. Rec., 30 May, 853. At a time (1862), when the *thumb-lancet was hardly considered a necessity.

1801.  Nemnich, Waaren Lexicon, II. 686/2. *Thumb latches, Thürklinken mit einem Drücker.

1844.  Stephens, Bk. Farm, II. 167. The outer-door provided with a good thumb-latch, and lock and key.

1883.  [see THUMB-PIECE a].

1773.  Erskine, Inst. Law Scot., III. ii. § 5. 447. Decrees are yet extant in our records … sustaining sales upon summonses of *thumb-licking, upon this medium, That the parties had licked thumbs at finishing the bargain.

1895.  S. S. Buckman, in Pop. Sci. Monthly, Jan., 376. The big toe … reveals its former *thumblike use.

1801.  Nemnich, Waaren Lexicon, II. 686/2. *Thumb locks, Feder-Thürschlösser die mit einem Schlüssel ohne Bart, aufgedrückt werden.

1882.  J. Taylor, Sc. Covenanters, 88. They carried with them … iron fetters, and an instrument of torture called thumb-locks.

1844.  Stephens, Bk. Farm, III. 979. It should be tied in bundles or sheaves with *thumb-made straw-ropes.

1611.  Cotgr., s.v. Sūant, A poulce sūant, by ynch, or *thumbe-measure; the breadth of a thumbe giuen betweene euerie yard in measuring.

1867.  J. Hogg, Microsc., I. iii. 204. The teeth answer the triple purposes of *thumb-milling, ratchet-stop, and graduation.

1794.  *Thumb-nut [see THUMB-SCREW sb. 1].

1904.  Harrison & H., Restoration Durh. Cath. Organ. The *Thumb-Pistons will be of solid ivory.

1889.  E. J. Payne, in Grove, Dict. Mus., IV. 300/2 (Violoncello-playing). At present … the use of the *thumb positions is more restricted.

1851.  Beck’s Florist, Dec., 267. As soon as they are sufficiently large to handle … pot them singly in small *thumb-pots.

1885.  M. Collins, in Eng. Illustr. Mag., 687/2. [Roman pottery] Many are still called ‘thumb-pols,’ the sides being indented with the potter’s thumb.

1848.  Boston Even. Transcript, 4 June, 2/1. Perhaps the invitingness which my luxurious friend expressed so familiarly, is rather aided by what artists call ‘the maker’s *thumb-print,’ in her chin—a spacious dimple, in which resides a boundless promise of good humor.

1881.  Pacific Commercial Advertiser, 4 June, 4/3. A student of thumb-prints is said to recognize with a great deal of precision the identity of an individual.

1900.  Literature, 15 Dec., 486/2. The thumb-print of Kangali Charan … was compared with the magnified lines of the smudge. Identification was instant.

1906.  Daily Chron., 2 May, 7/5. To-day the photograph of his thumb prints was received from London. They exactly tally with Johnson’s thumb-prints made here.

1869.  S. T. Davenport, in Eng. Mech., 31 Dec., 377/2. This was effected by small inking-rubbers, known as thumbs and fingers, and the printing was called *thumb-printing.

1825.  Southey, Lett. to H. Hill, 22 March. I had merely *thumb-read his book as a whole.

1844.  J. T. Hewlett, Parsons & W., xi. A … trolling-rod, and a large *thumb-reel.

1904.  Wordsworth, Old Service-Bks., 277. A kind of book-marker or *thumb-register, for finding the places in a book read in choir.

1906.  Westm. Gaz., 2 July, 2/2. The effect of this missionary work … is not to be measured by any *thumb-rule.

a. 1825.  Forby, Voc. E. Anglia, s.v., Snack, A *thumb-snack, in which the latch is lifted by pressing the thumb on the broad end of a short lever which moves it.

1846.  D. Jerrold, Chron. Clovernook, Wks. 1864, IV. 393. They scream like a lady at a loaded pistol, or rather like a *thumb-sucking baby at aloes, at the man of bitter ink.

1897.  Allbutt’s Syst. Med., II. 1039. Finger-nails must be kept short and clean, and thumb-sucking and nail-biting discouraged.

1908.  Daily Chron., 27 Feb., 8/1. Fasten all securely to a flat surface … with pins or *thumb tacks.

1826.  Southey, Vind. Eccl. Angl., 497. Among all my books there is no other which bears such marks of *thumb-unction.

1863.  Ecclesiologist, XXIV. 338. The *thumb-worn binding … would be enough to scare a fashionable Englishman.

1908.  W. Churchill, Mr. Crewe’s Career, xvii. Certain thumb-worn schedules were referred to.

1844.  Zoologist, II. 511. Common wren, *‘Thumb-wren.’ Troglodytes europœus.