rule of thumbn.adj.

Brit.

/ˌruːl əv ˈθʌm/, U.S.

/ˌrul əv ˈθəm/

Origin: Formed within English, by compounding. Etymons: rule n.¹, of prep., thumb n.

Etymology: < rule n.¹ + of prep. + thumb n., probably so called on account of the thumb being used as a reference for approximate measurements of various kinds. Compare thumb n. 4.A suggestion that the phrase refers to an alleged rule allowing a husband to beat his wife with a stick the thickness of his thumb cannot be substantiated (compare the discussion by H. D. Kelly in Jrnl. for Legal Educ. 44 (1994) 341–65); it also poses semantic problems. The suggestion appears to be of late 20th-cent. origin, probably arising from a misunderstanding of the pun in the following passage (discussing the alleged rule mentioned above):1976 D. Martin Battered Wives 31 [In 19th-cent. America] the common-law doctrine had been modified to allow the husband ‘the right to whip his wife, provided he used a switch no thicker than his thumb’—a rule of thumb, so to speak.

A. n.

1. As a mass noun. Method or procedure derived from practice or experience, rather than theory or scientific knowledge; a roughly practical method. Chiefly in by rule of thumb.

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > endeavour > trial or experiment > [noun] > empiricism > method of

rule of thumba1658

thumb-rule1906

a1658 J. Durham Heaven upon Earth (1685) ii. 217 Many profest Christians are like to foolish builders, who build by guess, and by rule of thumb.

1692 W. Hope Compl. Fencing-master (ed. 2) 157 What he doth, he doth by rule of Thumb, and not by Art.

1721 J. Kelly Compl. Coll. Scotish Prov. 257 No Rule so good as Rule of Thumb, if it hit.

1773 O. Goldsmith She stoops to Conquer iii. 51 Ask me no questions, and I'll tell you no fibs. I procured them by the rule of thumb.

1802 Sporting Mag. 20 17 Too often did she apportion the drugs by the rule of thumb.

1887 W. Besant World Went xxv [He] knew nothing save by rule of thumb of navigation.

1906 W. Wood Enemy in our Midst vii. 73 On a certain assumption which was that an enemy would work according to drill-book and rule-of-thumb.

1980 Jrnl. Royal Soc. Arts Feb. 166/2 By day that same boy's master, and overlooker, and fellow-workmen, are all teaching him..that rule of thumb is the only safe guide.

1992 Economist 11 Apr. 40/1 By rule of thumb, if a boy acts delinquent by the age of eight, the drug gangs will have got him by the time he is ten.

2. As a count noun. A particular rule or principle derived from practice or experience; a rough guideline.

ΚΠ

1833 Westm. Rev. July 146 It was also very meet and fitting that philosophers should have the most perfect apprehension of the rationale of all these proceedings, even though it ended in..no confutation of the rules of thumb already in operation among mankind.

1849 Rep. Comm. Applic. Iron to Railway Structures 355 I follow a rule hardly amounting in accuracy to a rule of thumb in that.

1889 Louisiana Planter & Sugar Manufacturer 9 Mar. 109/2 We alluded to a ‘rule of thumb’ that seemed to be indicated, which was to multiply the extraction by the sucrose.

1922 Bankers Mag. Jan. 25/1 The banker..has applied this rule-of-thumb so long as a matter of custom, that it seems quite obvious to him.

1976 Southern Evening Echo (Southampton) 11 Nov. 3/7 The rule of thumb over the tenancy of a council home should be ‘follow the children’.

1995 Byte May 51/1 A common rule of thumb in the past was that servers were uniprocessors that were used mostly for NetWare.

B. adj.

1. Of a method, procedure, etc.: derived from practice or experience, rather than theory or scientific knowledge; rough, unscientific.

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > endeavour > trial or experiment > [adjective] > empirical

experimental1526

empiric1576

empirical1588

experimentate1651

occulta1652

empiric1772

rule of thumb1816

empiricist1864

practico-empirical1913

1816 Ann. Philos. 8 425 Mr. Buddle must have come to practical results in the rule-of-thumb way, and cannot be supposed to be very correct.

1837 J. G. Lockhart Mem. Life Scott (1839) VIII. 92 Beyond this rule of thumb calculation, no experience could bring him to penetrate his mystery.

1861 T. Hughes Tom Brown at Oxf. II. v. 76 We never learnt anything..except a little rule-of-thumb mathematics.

1935 E. Waugh Edmund Campion ii. 55 Old-fashioned priests..came to him when they found their simple, rule-of-thumb dialectics insufficient to cope with their trained opponents.

1962 W. Nowottny Lang. Poets Use iii. 53 This attitude..however rule-of-thumb it may be, is reasonable enough.

1977 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 24 Nov. 16/1 Ridiculing the ‘rule of thumb’ methods used in the household.

1998 Plumbing, Heating & Air Movement News July 27/1 Rule of thumb sizing of boilers usually meant that a heat loss calculation for a building of say 275 kW, would immediately be increased by 10% to include an adequate safety margin.

2. Of a person: working by methods derived from practice or experience; having no recourse to theory or scientific knowledge.

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > endeavour > trial or experiment > [adjective] > empirical > of persons

empiric1605

rule of thumb1832

1832 London Med. & Surg. Jrnl. 1 404/1 This is applying physiology with too great precision to the treatment of disease to meet with the slightest regard from rule-of-thumb practitioners.

1878 W. de W. Abney Treat. Photogr. (1890) 10 A great difficulty to the beginner or to the rule-of-thumb photographer.

1936 N.Y. Woman 23 Sept. 16/1 ‘Your fate is in the tea leaves.’ So is a good living for hundreds of amateur, rule-of-thumb psychologists in Manhattan, who wear the gypsy dress.

1947 R. D. Douglass & D. P. Adams Elem. Nomography p. vii However, the successful rule-of-thumb or short-cut nomographer is not to be criticized for his approach.

1984 G. W. Roderick & M. D. Stephens Post School Educ. v. 152 The rule-of-thumb men from the lower social orders.

Derivatives

rule of ˈthumbite n. a person who works by rule of thumb.Apparently an isolated use.

ΚΠ

1916 H. G. Wells Mr. Britling sees it Through i. i. 16 Ruskin and Morris..were as reactionary and anti-scientific as the dukes and the bishops. Machine haters. Science haters. Rule of Thumbites to the bone.

This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2011; most recently modified version published online March 2022).

单词	rule of thumb
释义	rule of thumbn.adj. Brit. /ˌruːl əv ˈθʌm/, U.S. /ˌrul əv ˈθəm/ Origin: Formed within English, by compounding. Etymons: rule n.¹, of prep., thumb n. Etymology: < rule n.¹ + of prep. + thumb n., probably so called on account of the thumb being used as a reference for approximate measurements of various kinds. Compare thumb n. 4.A suggestion that the phrase refers to an alleged rule allowing a husband to beat his wife with a stick the thickness of his thumb cannot be substantiated (compare the discussion by H. D. Kelly in Jrnl. for Legal Educ. 44 (1994) 341–65); it also poses semantic problems. The suggestion appears to be of late 20th-cent. origin, probably arising from a misunderstanding of the pun in the following passage (discussing the alleged rule mentioned above):1976 D. Martin Battered Wives 31 [In 19th-cent. America] the common-law doctrine had been modified to allow the husband ‘the right to whip his wife, provided he used a switch no thicker than his thumb’—a rule of thumb, so to speak. A. n. 1. As a mass noun. Method or procedure derived from practice or experience, rather than theory or scientific knowledge; a roughly practical method. Chiefly in by rule of thumb. ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > endeavour > trial or experiment > [noun] > empiricism > method of rule of thumba1658 thumb-rule1906 a1658 J. Durham Heaven upon Earth (1685) ii. 217 Many profest Christians are like to foolish builders, who build by guess, and by rule of thumb. 1692 W. Hope Compl. Fencing-master (ed. 2) 157 What he doth, he doth by rule of Thumb, and not by Art. 1721 J. Kelly Compl. Coll. Scotish Prov. 257 No Rule so good as Rule of Thumb, if it hit. 1773 O. Goldsmith She stoops to Conquer iii. 51 Ask me no questions, and I'll tell you no fibs. I procured them by the rule of thumb. 1802 Sporting Mag. 20 17 Too often did she apportion the drugs by the rule of thumb. 1887 W. Besant World Went xxv [He] knew nothing save by rule of thumb of navigation. 1906 W. Wood Enemy in our Midst vii. 73 On a certain assumption which was that an enemy would work according to drill-book and rule-of-thumb. 1980 Jrnl. Royal Soc. Arts Feb. 166/2 By day that same boy's master, and overlooker, and fellow-workmen, are all teaching him..that rule of thumb is the only safe guide. 1992 Economist 11 Apr. 40/1 By rule of thumb, if a boy acts delinquent by the age of eight, the drug gangs will have got him by the time he is ten. 2. As a count noun. A particular rule or principle derived from practice or experience; a rough guideline. ΚΠ 1833 Westm. Rev. July 146 It was also very meet and fitting that philosophers should have the most perfect apprehension of the rationale of all these proceedings, even though it ended in..no confutation of the rules of thumb already in operation among mankind. 1849 Rep. Comm. Applic. Iron to Railway Structures 355 I follow a rule hardly amounting in accuracy to a rule of thumb in that. 1889 Louisiana Planter & Sugar Manufacturer 9 Mar. 109/2 We alluded to a ‘rule of thumb’ that seemed to be indicated, which was to multiply the extraction by the sucrose. 1922 Bankers Mag. Jan. 25/1 The banker..has applied this rule-of-thumb so long as a matter of custom, that it seems quite obvious to him. 1976 Southern Evening Echo (Southampton) 11 Nov. 3/7 The rule of thumb over the tenancy of a council home should be ‘follow the children’. 1995 Byte May 51/1 A common rule of thumb in the past was that servers were uniprocessors that were used mostly for NetWare. B. adj. 1. Of a method, procedure, etc.: derived from practice or experience, rather than theory or scientific knowledge; rough, unscientific. ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > endeavour > trial or experiment > [adjective] > empirical experimental1526 empiric1576 empirical1588 experimentate1651 occulta1652 empiric1772 rule of thumb1816 empiricist1864 practico-empirical1913 1816 Ann. Philos. 8 425 Mr. Buddle must have come to practical results in the rule-of-thumb way, and cannot be supposed to be very correct. 1837 J. G. Lockhart Mem. Life Scott (1839) VIII. 92 Beyond this rule of thumb calculation, no experience could bring him to penetrate his mystery. 1861 T. Hughes Tom Brown at Oxf. II. v. 76 We never learnt anything..except a little rule-of-thumb mathematics. 1935 E. Waugh Edmund Campion ii. 55 Old-fashioned priests..came to him when they found their simple, rule-of-thumb dialectics insufficient to cope with their trained opponents. 1962 W. Nowottny Lang. Poets Use iii. 53 This attitude..however rule-of-thumb it may be, is reasonable enough. 1977 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 24 Nov. 16/1 Ridiculing the ‘rule of thumb’ methods used in the household. 1998 Plumbing, Heating & Air Movement News July 27/1 Rule of thumb sizing of boilers usually meant that a heat loss calculation for a building of say 275 kW, would immediately be increased by 10% to include an adequate safety margin. 2. Of a person: working by methods derived from practice or experience; having no recourse to theory or scientific knowledge. ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > endeavour > trial or experiment > [adjective] > empirical > of persons empiric1605 rule of thumb1832 1832 London Med. & Surg. Jrnl. 1 404/1 This is applying physiology with too great precision to the treatment of disease to meet with the slightest regard from rule-of-thumb practitioners. 1878 W. de W. Abney Treat. Photogr. (1890) 10 A great difficulty to the beginner or to the rule-of-thumb photographer. 1936 N.Y. Woman 23 Sept. 16/1 ‘Your fate is in the tea leaves.’ So is a good living for hundreds of amateur, rule-of-thumb psychologists in Manhattan, who wear the gypsy dress. 1947 R. D. Douglass & D. P. Adams Elem. Nomography p. vii However, the successful rule-of-thumb or short-cut nomographer is not to be criticized for his approach. 1984 G. W. Roderick & M. D. Stephens Post School Educ. v. 152 The rule-of-thumb men from the lower social orders. Derivatives rule of ˈthumbite n. a person who works by rule of thumb.Apparently an isolated use. ΚΠ 1916 H. G. Wells Mr. Britling sees it Through i. i. 16 Ruskin and Morris..were as reactionary and anti-scientific as the dukes and the bishops. Machine haters. Science haters. Rule of Thumbites to the bone. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2011; most recently modified version published online March 2022). < n.adj.a1658
随便看	on foot on foot of on foot's horse on footback on force on formerly also upon 'change on formerly upon the prowl on forward on four on fresh on full cock on full scent on full song on full speed on fumes on furlough on game on general principles on god's dear earth on god's earth on god's green earth on god's half on god's name on going on good authority