thumb
/ˈθʌm/ verb C2- To touch or cover with the thumb. · to thumb the touch-hole of a cannon
- To turn the pages of (a book) in order to read it cursorily. · thumb through· I thumbed through the book and decided not to bother reading it all.
- To gesture with the thumb, for example when flagging a ride.
- To hitchhike. · So I started thumbin' back east, toward my hometown.
- 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.
He/she/it thumbs · Past thumbed · Past participle thumbed · -ing form thumbing
Verb forms
- Base form
- thumb
- He/she/it
- thumbs
- Past
- thumbed
- Past participle
- thumbed
- -ing form
- thumbing
Phrasal verbs and expressions
From the library
“He seems to have a mania for diamonds,” said Morcerf, smiling, “and I verily believe that, like Potemkin, he keeps his pockets filled, for the sake of strewing them along the road, as Tom Thumb did his flint stones.”
“This was found between the finger and thumb of the dead man.
It was the well-marked print of a thumb.
“You are aware that no two thumb-marks are alike?”
Other matches
Learn thumb in real texts
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