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   thumb

   /θʌm/

   noun

   • 1. the short, thick first digit of the human hand, set lower and apart from the other four and opposable to them.
   • ▪ the digit of primates or other mammals that corresponds to the human thumb.
   • ▪ the part of a glove that covers the thumb.

   verb

   • 1. press, move, or touch (something) with one's thumb: "as soon as she thumbed the button, the door slid open" Similar presspush (down)depresslean on
   • ▪ use one's thumb to indicate something: "he thumbed towards the men behind him"
   • 2. turn over (pages) with or as if with one's thumb: "I've thumbed my address book and found quite a range of smaller hotels" Similar leafflickflipskimbrowseglancelookrifflereadscandip intorun one's eye overhave a look atperuse
   • ▪ wear or soil (a book's pages) by repeated handling: "his dictionaries were thumbed and ink-stained"
   • 3. request or obtain (a free ride in a passing vehicle) by signalling with one's thumb: "three cars passed me and I tried to thumb a lift" Similar hitch-hikeask forrequestsignal forgetobtaininformal:hitchhitch a lift

   Word Origin Old Englishthūma, 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 century, first in the sense ‘play (a musical instrument) with the thumbs’.

   Derivatives

   • 1. thumbless adjective

   Scrabble Points: 12

   • T

     1

   • H

     4

   • U

     1

   • M

     3

   • B

     3

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