Thumb Definition | Definition of Thumb at Dictionary.com

thumb

[thuhm]

–noun

1.	the short, thick, inner digit of the human hand, next to the forefinger.

2.	the corresponding digit in other animals; pollex.

3.	the part of a glove or mitten for containing this digit.

4.	Architecture. an ovolo or echinus molding.

–verb (used with object)

5.	to soil or wear with the thumbs in handling, as the pages of a book.

6.	to glance through (the pages of a book, leaflet, etc.) quickly.

7.	to play (a guitar or other instrument) with or as with the thumbs.

8.	(of a hitchhiker) to solicit or get (a ride) by pointing the thumb in the desired direction of travel.

—Idioms

9.	all thumbs, awkward; clumsy; bungling: The visitor almost knocked over a vase and seemed to be all thumbs.

10.

thumb one's nose,

a.	to put one's thumb to one's nose and extend the fingers as a crudely defiant or contemptuous gesture.

b.	to express defiance or contempt; dismiss or reject contemptuously.

11.	thumbs down, a gesture or expression of dissent or disapproval: We turned thumbs down to that suggestion.

12.	thumbs up, a gesture or expression of assent or approval.

13.	under one's thumb, under the power or influence of; subordinate to. Also, under the thumb of.

Origin:
bef. 900; ME; OE thūma; c. D duim, OS, OHG dūmo (G Daumen), ON thumall; akin to L tumēre to swell ( tumor )

Related forms:

thumbless, adjective

thumblike, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Link To thumb

thumb (thŭm)

1. The short thick digit of the human hand, next to the index finger and opposable to each of the other four digits.
2. A corresponding digit in other animals, especially primates. Also called pollex.
The part of a glove or mitten that covers the thumb.
Architecture An ovolo.

v. thumbed, thumb·ing, thumbs

v. tr.

To scan (written matter) by turning over pages with or as if with the thumb.
To disarrange, soil, or wear by careless or frequent handling.
Informal To solicit (a ride) from a passing vehicle by signaling with the thumb.

v. intr.

To scan written matter by turning over pages with or as if with the thumb: thumbed through the latest issue of the magazine.
Informal To hitchhike.

[Middle English, from Old English thūma; see teuə- in Indo-European roots.]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Thumb

Thumb\, n. [OE. thombe, thoumbe, [thorn]ume, AS. [thorn][=u]ma; akin to OFries. th[=u]ma, D. duim, G. daumen, OHG. d[=u]mo, Icel. [thorn]umall, Dan. tommelfinger, Sw. tumme, and perhaps to L. tumere to swell. [root]56. Cf. Thimble, Tumid.] The short, thick first digit of the human hand, differing from the other fingers in having but two phalanges; the pollex. See Pollex.

Upon his thumb he had of gold a ring. --Chaucer.

Thumb band, a twist of anything as thick as the thumb. --Mortimer.

Thumb blue, indigo in the form of small balls or lumps, used by washerwomen to blue linen, and the like.

Thumb latch, a door latch having a lever formed to be pressed by the thumb.

Thumb mark. (a) The mark left by the impression of a thumb, as on the leaves of a book. --Longfellow. (b) The dark spot over each foot in finely bred black and tan terriers.

Thumb nut, a nut for a screw, having wings to grasp between the thumb and fingers in turning it; also, a nut with a knurled rim for the same perpose.

Thumb ring, a ring worn on the thumb. --Shak.

Thumb stall. (a) A kind of thimble or ferrule of iron, or leather, for protecting the thumb in making sails, and in other work. (b) (Mil.) A buckskin cushion worn on the thumb, and used to close the vent of a cannon while it is sponged, or loaded.

Under one's thumb, completely under one's power or influence; in a condition of subservience. [Colloq.]

Thumb

Thumb\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Thumbed; p. pr. & vb. n. Thumbing.]

1. To handle awkwardly. --Johnson.

2. To play with the thumbs, or with the thumbs and fingers; as, to thumb over a tune.

3. To soil or wear with the thumb or the fingers; to soil, or wear out, by frequent handling; also, to cover with the thumb; as, to thumb the touch-hole of a cannon.

He gravely informed the enemy that all his cards had been thumbed to pieces, and begged them to let him have a few more packs. --Macaulay.

Thumb

Thumb\, v. i. To play with the thumb or thumbs; to play clumsily; to thrum.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : thumb

Spanish: pulgar,

German: der Daumen,

Japanese: 親指

More Translations »

thumb

n. The slider on a window-system scrollbar. So called because moving it allows you to browse through the contents of a text window in a way analogous to thumbing through a book.

Jargon File 4.2.0
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thumb

O.E. þuma, from W.Gmc. *thuman- (cf. O.Fris. thuma, O.S., O.H.G. thumo, Ger. Daumen, Du. duim "thumb," O.N. þumall "thumb of a glove"), lit. "the stout or thick (finger)," from PIE *tum- "swell" (cf. L. tumere "to swell," tumidus "swollen;" Avestan tuma "fat;" see thigh). For spelling with -b (attested from c.1290), see limb. The verb meaning "to go through" (especially of printed material) is first found 1930, though the related sense of "soil or wear by handling" dates from 1644. Verb meaning "to hitchhike" is 1939, originally the thumb pointed in the direction one wished to travel. Thumbnail sketch (1852) so called for its smallness. To be under (someone's) thumb "be totally controlled by that person" is recorded from 1586. Thumbs up (1887) and thumbs down (1906) were said to be from expressions of approval or the opposite in ancient amphitheaters, especially gladiator shows, where the gesture decided whether a defeated combatant was spared or slain. But the Roman gesture was merely one of hiding the thumb in the hand or extending it. Perhaps the modern gesture is from the usual coachmen's way of greeting while the hands are occupied with the reins.

Main Entry: thumb
Pronunciation: 'th&m
Function: noun
: the short and thick first or most preaxial digit of the human hand that differs from the otherfingers in having only two phalanges, in having greater freedom of movement, and in being opposable to the other fingers

thumb (thŭm)
n.
The short thick digit of the human hand, next to the index finger and opposable to each of the other four digits.

Thumb processor
An extension to the Advanced RISC Machine architecture, announced on 06 March 1995 by Advanced RISC Machines Ltd. By identifying the critical subset of the ARM instruction set and encoding it into 16 bits, ARM has succeeded in reducing typical program size by 30-40% from ARM's already excellent code density. Since this Thumb instruction set uses less memory for program storage, cost is further reduced.
All Thumb-aware processor cores combine the capability to execute both the 32-bit ARM and the 16-bit Thumb instruction sets. Careful design of the Thumb instructions allow them to be decompressed into full ARM instructions transparently during normal instruction decoding without any performance penalty. This differs from other 32-bit processors, like the Intel 486SX, with a 16-bit data bus, which require two 16-bit memory accesses to execute every 32-bit instruction and so halve performance.
The patented Thumb decompressor has been carefully designed with only a small amount of circuitry additional to the existing instruction decoder, so chip size and thus cost do not significantly increase. Designers can easily interleave fast ARM instructions (for performance critical parts of a program) with compact Thumb code to save memory.
(1995-03-14)

thumb jargon
The slider or "bubble" on a window system scrollbar. So called because moving it allows you to browse through the contents of a text window in a way analogous to thumbing through a book.
[The Jargon File]
(1995-03-14)

thumb

In addition to the idioms beginning with thumb, also see all thumbs; green thumb; rule of thumb; stick out (like a sore thumb); twiddle one's thumbs; under someone's thumb.

thumb

short, thick first digit of the human hand and of the lower-primate hand and foot. It differs from other digits in having only two phalanges (tubular bones of the fingers and toes). The thumb also differs in having much freedom of movement and being opposable to tips of other digits. The corresponding first digit (most medial digit) in other vertebrates is also called the thumb, especially if it has some manipulative or special ability (e.g., in the raccoon and the bat)

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Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
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