thumb
Plural: thumbs
Noun
- the thick short innermost digit of the forelimb
- the part of a glove that provides a covering for the thumb
- a convex molding having a cross section in the form of a quarter of a circle or of an ellipse
- The short thick 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.
- The part of a slider that may be moved linearly along the slider.
- A thumbnail picture.
Verb
Verb Forms: thumbed, thumbing, thumbs
- To leaf through pages quickly or manipulate with one's thumb.
- travel by getting free rides from motorists
- look through a book or other written material
- "He thumbed through the report"
- feel or handle with the fingers
- To touch or cover with the thumb.
- To turn the pages of (a book) in order to read it cursorily.
- To hitchhike.
- To soil or wear with the thumb or the fingers; to soil, or wear out, by frequent handling.
- To manipulate (an object) with the thumb; especially, to pull back the hammer or open the cylinder of a revolver.
- To fire (a single action revolver) quickly by pulling the hammer while keeping the trigger depressed.
Examples
- a scroll-bar thumb
- He would THUMB through the dictionary, searching for obscure two-letter words.
- I thumbed through the book and decided not to bother reading it all.
- So I started thumbin' back east, toward my hometown.
- thumb through
- to thumb the touch-hole of a cannon
Origin / Etymology
From Middle English thombe, thoume, thoumbe, from Old English þūma, from Proto-West Germanic *þūmō, from Proto-Germanic *þūmô from Proto-Indo-European *tūm- (“to grow”).
See also West Frisian tomme, Dutch duim, Low German Duum, German Daumen, Danish tomme, Swedish tumme; also
Welsh tyfu (“to grow”), Latin tumēre (“to swell”), Lithuanian tumėti (“to thicken, clot”), Ancient Greek τύμβος (túmbos, “burial mound”), Avestan 𐬀𐬨𐬏𐬙 (amūt, “strong”), Sanskrit तुम्र (túmra, “strong, thick”). The parasitic ‐b has existed since the late 13th century.
Synonyms
finger, flick, flip, hitch, hitchhike, leaf, ovolo, pollex, quarter round, riff, riffle, browse, digit I, first digit, flip through, page, peruse, thumby
Scrabble Score: 12
thumb: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Wordthumb: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
thumb: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary