[In reference to diminutive stature: cf. THUMB sb. 3.]

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  1.  A dwarf or pigmy of popular tradition or fable, whose history was common as a chap-book; hence a name for a dwarf or diminutive male person; also contemptuously, a petty or insignificant person, a pigmy holder of a high position. Also attrib.

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1579.  Fulke, Heskins’ Parl., 235. They feigned him to be a little child like Tom Thumb.

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1621.  R. Johnson (title), The History of Tom Thumbe.

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1630.  (title) Tom Thumbe, his Life and Death.

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1661.  Needham, Hist. Eng. Reb., 74. Princes are brav’d by Jack and Jill, Wat Tilers and Tom Thums.

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1665.  Surv. Aff. Netherl., 93, Jan. 20. 1651. they Voted our Tom Thombs a free State forsooth, and Commonwealth.

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a. 1700.  B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, Tom-thumb, a Dwarf.

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1806.  Naval Chron., XV. 159. The Tom Thumb egotism … of the Corsican Usurper.

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1889.  N. W. Linc. Gloss., Tom Thumb, a small and insignificant person.

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1907.  Daily Chron., 6 Feb., 5/5. ‘Tom Thumb’ is a name generally given by showmen to liliputians. The first holder of this ‘title’ was Charles Stratton, who was brought to London by Barnum.

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  2.  attrib. Applied to dwarf varieties or specimens of animals or plants; also, ellipt. or absol. as sb. a. A kind of dwarf oyster. b. A dwarf variety of cabbage, lettuce, or other vegetable, of antirrhinum, nasturtium, or other flower.

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1876.  Rep. Sel. Committee Oyster Fisheries, 49/2. Those oysters which you call buttons, I believe, or which some people call Tom Thumbs. Ibid., 77/2. A sort of dwarf oyster, or Tom Thumb oyster, would pass through the two-inch ring.

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1898.  Westm. Gaz., 29 Oct., 1/3. He had gone on sowing radishes and broccoli—making odd signs with pieces of stick and coloured paper to mark ‘tom-thumb’ or ‘giant,’ ‘early’ or ‘late’ [varieties].

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Mod.  The Tom Thumb nasturtiums are preferable to the long straggling forms. Are the antirrhinums Tom Thumbs?

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  3.  A popular name of some British wild flowers.

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1886.  Britten & Holland, Eng. Plant-n., Tom Thumb, Lathyrus pratensis. Berks. … Suss. Ibid., Appendix, Tom Thumb,… Lotus corniculatus. Oxf.

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