thumb

noun

/θʌm/

Idioms

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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.
see also green thumb
Extra Examples
- He smiled and raised a thumb in greeting.
- I picked up the beetle carefully between finger and thumb.
- I stuck out a thumb and a car stopped immediately.
Topics Bodyb2
Oxford Collocations Dictionary
verb + thumb
- suck
- flick
- jab
- …
thumb + noun
- nail
phrases
- between finger and thumb
- between thumb and forefinger
- thumbs up
- …
See full entry
the part of a glove that covers the thumb
- There's a hole in the thumb.

Word OriginOld 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’.

Idioms

be all (fingers and) thumbs

to be awkward with your hands so that you drop things or are unable to do something

hold thumbs

(South African English) to hope that your plans will be successful or that something will take place in the way that you want it to
- Let's hold thumbs that you get the job.
Topics Successc2

a rule of thumb

a practical method of doing or measuring something, usually based on past experience rather than on exact measurement
- As a rule of thumb, you should cook a chicken for 20 minutes for each pound of weight.

stand/stick out like a sore thumb

to be very easy to notice in an unpleasant way
- The blue building stood out like a sore thumb among the whitewashed villas.
- If you wear a suit to the party, you’ll stand out like a sore thumb.

thumbs up/down

(informal) used to show that something has been accepted/rejected or that it is/is not a success
- Their proposals were given the thumbs down.
- It looks like it's thumbs up for their latest album.
- He made a thumbs-up sign through the window to tell us everything was fine.
Topics Successc2, Difficulty and failurec2

twiddle your thumbs

to move your thumbs around each other with your fingers joined together
to do nothing while you are waiting for something to happen
- We can't just sit here twiddling our thumbs and hoping everything will be all right.

under somebody’s thumb

(informal) (of a person) completely controlled by somebody
- She’s got him under her thumb.

thumb

verb

/θʌm/

Verb Forms

present simple I / you / we / they thumb	/θʌm/ /θʌm/
he / she / it thumbs	/θʌmz/ /θʌmz/
past simple thumbed	/θʌmd/ /θʌmd/
past participle thumbed	/θʌmd/ /θʌmd/
-ing form thumbing	/ˈθʌmɪŋ/ /ˈθʌmɪŋ/

Idioms Phrasal Verbs

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[intransitive, transitive] to make a signal with your thumb to passing drivers to ask them to stop and take you somewhere
- + adv./prep. He had thumbed all across Europe.
- (British English) thumb a lift We managed to thumb a lift with a lorry driver.
- (North American English) thumb a ride We managed to thumb a ride with a truck driver.
[transitive] thumb something (+ adv./prep.) to touch or move something with your thumb
- She thumbed off the safety catch of her pistol.
see also well thumbed

Idioms

thumb your nose at somebody/something

(informal) to make a rude sign with your thumb on your nose; to show that you have no respect for somebody/something
- The company just thumbs its nose at the legislation on pollution.
- They thumb their noses at all of our traditions.