/ θʌm; NAmE / noun , verb
■ noun
1.
the short thick finger at the side of the hand, slightly apart from the other four :
She still sucks her thumb when she's worried.
—picture at hand
—see also green thumb
2.
the part of a glove that covers the thumb :
There's a hole in the thumb.
•
IDIOMS
- be all (fingers and) thumbs
- hold thumbs
- thumbs up / down
- under sb's thumb
—more at rule noun , sore adjective , twiddle verb
■ verb
1.
to make a signal with your thumb to passing drivers to ask them to stop and take you somewhere :
[ v + adv. / prep. ]
He had thumbed all across Europe.
[ vn ]
We managed to thumb a lift / ride with a truck driver.
2.
[ vn , often + adv. / prep. ] to touch or move sth with your thumb :
She thumbed off the safety catch of her pistol.
—see also well thumbed
•
IDIOMS
- thumb your nose at sb/sth
•
PHRASAL VERBS
- thumb through sth
••
WORD ORIGIN
Old English thūma , of West Germanic origin; related to Dutch duim and German Daumen , from an Indo-European root shared by Latin tumere to swell. The verb dates from the late 16th cent., first in the sense play (a musical instrument) with the thumbs .