Definition of thumb in English:

thumb

noun θʌmθəm

1The short, thick first digit of the human hand, set lower and apart from the other four and opposable to them.
拇指
Example sentencesExamples
- I wore four other rings; two thumb rings, a pinky ring, and another index finger ring.
- Lowell, currently sidelined by a broken left thumb, is one of 15 Marlins eligible for arbitration.
- Slowly everything around him lost clarity as he focused tightly on the thumb prints.
- While your arms are well rested to your sides, your sleeves should end where your thumbs begin.
- If you turn one hand so that both thumbs point the same way, that one will no longer be palm-up.
- Occasionally babies are born without a thumb or with a rudimentary thumb.
- She jerked her thumb over her shoulder towards the entrance without looking up.
- The Italian rider suffered concussion and a fractured left thumb that needed hospital treatment.
- I hooked my thumbs through my belt loops and observed the class.
- Do the exercise with your palms inward, thumbs pointing up.
- I jabbed a thumb in the opposite direction where an identical car was parked.
- The most commonly affected digits are the thumb and index finger.
- This section passes through the four fingers, the thumb having been seen for the last time in the preceding section.
- Nick held his thumb and forefinger apart about a half an inch.
- You know, twiddling your thumbs really isn't as easy as it looks, they keep knocking together.
- Using both hands, each testicle should be gently rolled between the thumb and index finger to find any lumps or irregular areas.
- C Jason Kendall is healthy again after a thumb injury ruined his 2001 season.
- Mole crickets can wreak havoc on lawns and golf courses: the adults dig burrows as big across as your thumb, and the larvae eat grass roots.
- It protrudes like a giant thumb from the east coast of Mexico, dividing the Gulf of Mexico from the Caribbean Sea.
- To understand parallax, hold your arm straight out in front of you and raise your thumb.
- The hands looked almost normal, with four fingers and an opposable thumb.
Synonyms
digit, first digit, opposable digit
1. 1.1 The digit of primates or other mammals that corresponds to the human thumb.
  Example sentencesExamples
  Neighbors recognize each other by scent; unfamiliar visitors are greeted with a harsh snarl and a hooking thumb claw.
  Smoky bats are very small bats with much reduced thumbs that are mostly enclosed in the wing membrane.
  That argument is false, Sober said, because it assumes we know what God was trying to do with the panda's thumb.
  Its retractable, switchblade-like claws on its thumbs worked as grappling hooks to bring an animal to the ground, Wroe said.
  The thumb and toe claws have an extra talon, which is unique in bats.
  Stephen Jay Gould famously used the panda's thumb to illustrate the same principle.
  The thumb is small and has a vestigial claw, similar to the New World furipterids.
  The forefeet have 5 digits, but the thumb is reduced in size. The hind feet have five functional digits.
  One controversy centers on the utility of the Neanderthal thumb.
  Synonyms
  digit, first digit, opposable digit
2. 1.2 The part of a glove that covers the thumb.
  （手套的）拇指部分
  Example sentencesExamples
  The top of the thumb is covered with nose friendly fabric so you can swipe away those tickles without rasping your shnoz.
  The thumb part of the glove should fold down underneath the fingers and point down.
  Put a few drops of peppermint oil on the thumb patches of your gloves, so you can sniff on the fly.
  A backhand catch in which the thumb of the glove points down and the glove-arm is positioned across the body must be practiced as much as the open-hand catch.
  Normally, there are four types of design of the glove's thumb, which are Wing Thumb, Straight Thumb, Keystone Thumb, and Reversible Thumb.

verb θʌmθəm

[with object]

1Press, move, or touch (something) with one's thumb.
用拇指揿（或按、摸、顶、指、戳、擦等）
as soon as she thumbed the button, the door slid open
她用拇指一触按钮，门就滑开了。
Example sentencesExamples
- I thumbed the button on my cell phone which bore the symbol of a green handset.
- Nakamura fished a cell phone from his pants pocket, and the device chirped as he thumbed the two-way communication button.
- He leaned forward and thumbed the intercom button on the computer terminal.
- But the not-so-silent majority who march through our streets shouting into their mobile phones, or are furiously thumbing text messages to one another, may be less concerned.
- He leaned over and thumbed the remote beside the lamp.
- She thumbed the safety back into the ‘on’ position.
- He passed one of the youth gangs on the way, muttering into their phones and thumbing at their keyboards, coordinating their crimefighting activities.
- He thumbed the buttons hard a couple of times, then pushed it aside.
- Despite the flurry of action as we hijack the room, he continues to thumb out a furious text message and refuses to say hello.
- The pilot thumbs a firing button, and a family is blown to smithereens.
- The door slid aside when he thumbed a square button beside the panel, but the lights did not come on automatically as they had in the corridor.
- Merlin thumbed the call switch and leaned forward.
- However, at 127 minutes and with a dialogue-heavy middle, some more impatient folk may be thumbing the scan forward button.
- He quickly thumbed the bee's wax out of his ears and tossed it on the ground.
- At the ready with the muzzle up, you can quickly thumb a hammer back as you shoulder it.
- The intercom beeped on a console near the galley and Merlin moved to thumb the control.
- No sooner have you thumbed the remote control, than legions of sherry-sodden aunts, bickering uncles and brattish weans are filing out of your living room.
- The doorman thumbed the button and steel doors rang and parted open.
Synonyms
press, push (down), depress, lean on
1. 1.1no object Use one's thumb to indicate something.
  用拇指示意
  he thumbed towards the men behind him
  他用拇指指着他后面的人。
  Example sentencesExamples
  ‘Cassie’ she said simply, thumbing in the direction of the window.
  ‘Well, I fix that thing,’ Dreyden said, thumbing towards the ship, ‘when no one else is around.’
  I think she's referring to the guy who is thumbing rudely at something.
  When I asked where the head was, a crewmember thumbed at the lee side of the boat.
  Debbie smirked at him and thumbed towards herself.
2Turn over (pages) with or as if with one's thumb.
用拇指翻动；翻阅
I've thumbed my address book and found quite a range of smaller hotels
我翻看我的通讯录，发现里面记了一长串的小旅馆。
no object he was thumbing throughUSA Today for the umpteenth time
他已经是不知第几次在翻阅这本《今日美国》了。
Example sentencesExamples
- I sat on my bed and began thumbing through the pages of my fantasies.
- We've been thumbing through the guide to this year's Melbourne International Comedy Festival, trying to decide what we'll go see this year.
- ‘This isn't working,’ mumbled Vladimir Vladimirovich as he pulled his presidential address book from his jacket pocket and started thumbing through it.
- Donna was eating Triscuts and thumbing through the Daily News.
- Encyclopedias on CD-Rom can provide access to information much quicker than thumbing through stacks of books.
- I duly placed the chilled pies into the microwave and commenced the cooking process and began thumbing through the newspaper.
- But who can deny perusing the headlines, even thumbing through the pages, of the occasional supermarket tabloid while waiting to ring up our groceries?
- After thumbing through a few pages, I was hooked immediately.
- In fact, music critics everywhere are thumbing through a thesaurus, competing to compose a squirtier review of her impressive sophomore album.
- I picked up Toole's book because, thumbing through it, I'd read a paragraph that rang with truth as I had come to know it with Muhammad Ali.
- The guard leans back in his booth, thumbing a paper, watching the clock.
- I was thumbing through the mail this afternoon, innocently enough, only to be frightened by this evil, leering tree that popped out at me.
- At the mid-point of the first running of this programme, I'm thumbing through some of those linkages in a self-imposed revision process.
- Anyway, I am thumbing through the friendster pages via a search for ‘Interests: Blading’ in hope of finding some blading kakis.
- It's all the rage, flick on your TV, thumb through a magazine or listen to the radio - everyone's at it.
- I find myself picking this book up and thumbing through it repetitively.
- Students at Manchester University no longer need to thumb through dusty texts when reading classics of English literature.
- The President looked up from the papers he was thumbing through, and referred to some large, recent pro-Palestinian demonstrations in Turkey.
- In terms of the Powell approach, I'm not sure exactly what the Powell approach is, other than thumbing through his Rolodex.
- When I thumbed through his journal at the shop today I had the strong feeling that he never intended for these thoughts to be publicised.
Synonyms
leaf, flick, flip, skim, browse, glance, look, riffle
read, scan, dip into, run one's eye over, have a look at
peruse
1. 2.1 Wear or soil (a book's pages) by repeated handling.
  翻旧（或翻破、翻脏）（书页）
  his dictionaries were thumbed and ink-stained
  他的词典均起折角，墨汁斑斑。
  Example sentencesExamples
  The smell and feel of them but books that have been thumbed through by hundreds and gone yellowy don't have quite the same appeal.
  The following year I was keen to get hold of the latest version of the book that had become a well thumbed favourite.
  Some are so well thumbed that the tattered pages look ready to crumble.
  In our own kids' bookshelves, they're the most battered, thumbed and falling-apart books, so often have they been read.
  A well-thumbed Bible is always open on his desk in Edmonton's Parliament Building.
  I do so love my books, so much so that I couldn't bring myself to read books that had been thumbed a thousand times over.
3Request or obtain (a free ride in a passing vehicle) by signalling with one's thumb.
竖起拇指向过路汽车要求（免费搭乘）
three cars passed me and I tried to thumb a lift
三辆车经过我身边，我伸出拇指想搭便车。
he was thumbing his way across France
他搭乘便车行遍法国。
Example sentencesExamples
- I spent a lot of my time thumbing a lift on the road between Naas and Athy.
- He has no transport so can often be spotted thumbing a lift to games around the area.
- The A819 out of Inveraray is the most direct route north, but after 40 minutes of fruitless thumbing I decided to start walking in the hope of finding a more advantageous pitch.
- Later, while filling his car radiator with water at a service station, he offers a lift to a young woman who is also trying to thumb a ride west.
- And even if he found out where he was working out in Rio, he couldn't very well thumb a ride out there, could he?
- After twenty minutes of delicate, measured thumbing at passing traffic, could we get a car to stop?
- You could otherwise hope that a friendly soul at the Clachaig will offer a lift, or thumb a ride back: you would be unlucky if no-one stopped.
- Plus, he couldn't risk drawing attention to himself by thumbing a ride.
- She had thumbed through Central America with another girl.
- In those days, thumbing a lift was an accepted part of life for young people and even those who had long passed their middle age.
- I was driving a car, I saw two people thumbing a lift near the Barlo garage on the outskirts of Kilkenny.
- Reagan also stood on the corner of routes 26 and 29 in Ohio while thumbing a ride to Dixon.
- He had with him a folding bicycle and, thumbing a lift from the royal navy, safely crossed the channel and arrived back at Keevil, complete with bike.
Synonyms
hitch-hike, ask for, request, signal for
get, obtain
informal hitch, hitch a lift

Phrases

be all thumbs

Be clumsy or awkward in one's actions.
I'm all thumbs when it comes to making bows
Example sentencesExamples
- I've been all thumbs and screw up everything I touch.
- "He's all thumbs, Amelia."
- "I'm all thumbs when it comes to loading the reels."
- I'm trying to get a PDF of the letter up as well, but I'm all thumbs with this pesky technology, so bear with me.
- "When she is working in the house, she is all thumbs."
- I'm all thumbs when it comes to any kind of decorating, even presents.
- If you are all thumbs when it comes to your hair ask a talented friend or your favorite stylist to help you achieve this style.
- His bumbling, childlike Mr Bean was all thumbs and two left feet, and the fact that he rarely spoke meant his vaudevillian humour travelled well.
- I am not just all thumbs, more all toes.
- You are all thumbs in the kitchen.
Synonyms
clumsy, awkward, maladroit, inept, bungling, bumbling, incompetent, unskilful, heavy-handed, ungainly, inelegant, inexpert, graceless, ungraceful, gauche, unhandy, uncoordinated, gawky, cloddish, clodhopping

thumb one's nose at

informal Show disdain or contempt for.
〈非正式〉对…嗤之以鼻，蔑视
high-strung and unpredictable, he routinely thumbed his nose at authority
Example sentencesExamples
- William Kristol has used the page to attack Colin Powell, George Will to thumb his nose at the State Department and Robert Novak to deride the CIA.
- We cannot allow activist local elected officials to thumb their nose at 5,000 years of human history.
- Even more significantly, in having married a black woman, Becker seemed to be thumbing his nose at deeply ingrained Aryan idealism.
- By thumbing our nose at the world and dismissing the consensus views of the scientific community, we are scaring off that talent and sending it to our competitors.
- You can thumb your nose at all the people who are younger than you
- Yet instead of pursuing a bi-partisan agenda, he has thumbed his nose at over half of the American population.
- He had the women, he had the gadgets and he was thumbing his nose at what was considered politically correct at the time.
- The reader or viewer who thumbs his nose at the copyright notice risks receiving a threatening letter from the copyright owner.
- All you know is, there's no rule she's afraid to thumb her nose at.
- There is nothing ordinary about a man who thumbs his nose at the system of justice and to reward him, in effect, with a pardon.
Synonyms
defy, go against, rebel against, flout, fly in the face of, disobey, refuse to obey, disregard, ignore, set one's face against, kick against
break, violate, contravene, breach, infringe
informal cock a snook at
archaic set at naught

thumbs up (or down)

informal An indication of satisfaction or approval (or of rejection or failure)
〈非正式〉赞同；赞赏，满意（或否定、排斥、反对、拒绝、抛弃）
plans to build a house on the site have been given the thumbs down by the Department of the Environment
环境部反对在这个地方建房的计划。
Example sentencesExamples
- It would be a pity that this event would not be celebrated and the thumbs up sign has already given it the green light.
- Councillors agreed to send the letter at the January meeting of the local authority after giving the proposal a firm thumbs down.
- I made my challenge and he accepted it with his version of a thumbs up.
- Frequent-flier expert Randy Petersen gave a thumbs down to the move.
- Isn't it true that all the relevant statutory authorities have given the projects the thumbs up?
- All three chief officers of the services have given it the thumbs up.
- Many watching the march demonstrated their approval by giving a thumbs up or by clapping.
- The author - Jakob Nielsen - also gives a big thumbs down to subscriptions and advertisements.
- They seemed to approve of my subject because I received some thumbs up signals.
- It's with great regret that I give a collective thumbs down to a movie starring the normally entertaining Matthew Perry.
Synonyms
rejection, refusal, veto, no, negation, rebuff, disapproval, turning down, turndown, non-acceptance, declining, dismissal, spurning, cold shoulder, cold-shouldering, snub, snubbing
informal red light, knock-back, kick in the teeth, smack in the face/eye
approval, seal of approval, approbation, endorsement, welcome, encouragement
permission, liberty, authorization, consent, yes, leave, authority, sanction, ratification, licence, dispensation, nod, assent, acquiescence, agreement, blessing, imprimatur, rubber stamp, clearance, acceptance
informal go-ahead, the OK, green light, say-so
rare permit

under someone's thumb

Completely under someone's influence or control.
在某人的支配（或控制）下，在某人的巨大影响之下
he was very much under the thumb of his father
Example sentencesExamples
- Keeping a ship with 460 people on board under Howard 's thumb for 6 days has cost $20 million, as much as it would have cost to keep these boat people in detention for 434 days.
- But Beck made little progress: advocates had the City Council under their thumb.
- Tenali Rama's interpretation: You must not become a shrew but must be so to some extent in order to keep your husband under your thumb.
- He was doing all those hurtful things people do when they think they have you under their thumb.
- This is the beginning of the end for the British Army and their fight to keep the colonies under King George 's thumb.
- The solution to conflicts such as this is obviously not to put the police back under the military 's thumb.
- Give it a couple of weeks, and The Man will soon stop asking you to do anything, and soon enough you'll have him under your thumb.
- God is the creation of a few powerful people to keep the gullible masses under their thumb.
- ‘You must be really satisfied at how you managed to hook me under your thumb all these years,’ he went on relentlessly.
- The only other site capable of producing deuterium at the time was in Vemork, Norway, which had been under Hitler 's thumb since 1940.

Derivatives

thumbless

adjective ˈθʌmləsˈθəmləs

Pretty soon the clouds lifted and there in front of me were the peaks, soaring like a giant thumbless hand into the clouds.
Example sentencesExamples
- But despite worldwide disapproval, these thumbless inbreds are emigrating in droves.
- The name Colobus is derived from the German language to mean thumbless, which is a characteristic of Colobus monkeys.
- He was the one who talked filth to Laura Dern in Wild At Heart and more recently played a thumbless Canadian spy in The English Patient.
- With her fingers inside the thumbless muffs, she couldn't work the snaps, and that was so frustrating!

Origin

Old 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 century, first in the sense 'play (a musical instrument) with the thumbs'.

Like finger, thumb is Old English. It shares an ancient root with Latin tumere ‘to swell’, probably because the thumb is a ‘fat’ or ‘swollen’ finger. Thimble is formed from thumb, in the same way that handle is formed from hand. The expression thumbs up, showing satisfaction or approval, and its opposite thumbs down, indicating rejection or failure, hark back to the days of Roman gladiatorial combat. The thumbs were used to signal approval or disapproval by the spectators—despite what many people believe, though, they turned their thumbs down to indicate that a beaten gladiator had performed well and should be spared, and up to call for his death. The reversal of the phrases' meaning first appeared in the early 20th century. In one of the stories from Rudyard Kipling's Puck of Pook's Hill (1906), a Roman centurion facing a bleak future says to his friend, ‘We're finished men—thumbs down against both of us.’ In Shakespeare's Macbeth the Second Witch says as she sees Macbeth, ‘By the pricking of my thumbs, / Something wicked this way comes.’ A sensation of pricking in the thumbs was believed to be a foreboding of evil or trouble. See also limb, rule

Rhymes

become, benumb, Brum, bum, chum, crumb, drum, glum, gum, ho-hum, hum, Kara Kum, lum, mum, numb, plum, plumb, Rhum, rhumb, rum, scrum, scum, slum, some, strum, stum, succumb, sum, swum, thrum, tum, yum-yum

Definition of thumb in US English:

thumb

nounθəmTHəm

1The short, thick first digit of the human hand, set lower and apart from the other four and opposable to them.
拇指
Example sentencesExamples
- You know, twiddling your thumbs really isn't as easy as it looks, they keep knocking together.
- She jerked her thumb over her shoulder towards the entrance without looking up.
- To understand parallax, hold your arm straight out in front of you and raise your thumb.
- The Italian rider suffered concussion and a fractured left thumb that needed hospital treatment.
- While your arms are well rested to your sides, your sleeves should end where your thumbs begin.
- It protrudes like a giant thumb from the east coast of Mexico, dividing the Gulf of Mexico from the Caribbean Sea.
- This section passes through the four fingers, the thumb having been seen for the last time in the preceding section.
- If you turn one hand so that both thumbs point the same way, that one will no longer be palm-up.
- Do the exercise with your palms inward, thumbs pointing up.
- Lowell, currently sidelined by a broken left thumb, is one of 15 Marlins eligible for arbitration.
- C Jason Kendall is healthy again after a thumb injury ruined his 2001 season.
- I jabbed a thumb in the opposite direction where an identical car was parked.
- Occasionally babies are born without a thumb or with a rudimentary thumb.
- I hooked my thumbs through my belt loops and observed the class.
- The hands looked almost normal, with four fingers and an opposable thumb.
- Mole crickets can wreak havoc on lawns and golf courses: the adults dig burrows as big across as your thumb, and the larvae eat grass roots.
- Slowly everything around him lost clarity as he focused tightly on the thumb prints.
- Nick held his thumb and forefinger apart about a half an inch.
- I wore four other rings; two thumb rings, a pinky ring, and another index finger ring.
- Using both hands, each testicle should be gently rolled between the thumb and index finger to find any lumps or irregular areas.
- The most commonly affected digits are the thumb and index finger.
Synonyms
digit, first digit, opposable digit
1. 1.1 The corresponding digit of primates or other mammals.
  （灵长目动物或其他哺乳动物的）第一指
  Example sentencesExamples
  The forefeet have 5 digits, but the thumb is reduced in size. The hind feet have five functional digits.
  Neighbors recognize each other by scent; unfamiliar visitors are greeted with a harsh snarl and a hooking thumb claw.
  The thumb is small and has a vestigial claw, similar to the New World furipterids.
  Stephen Jay Gould famously used the panda's thumb to illustrate the same principle.
  One controversy centers on the utility of the Neanderthal thumb.
  The thumb and toe claws have an extra talon, which is unique in bats.
  Smoky bats are very small bats with much reduced thumbs that are mostly enclosed in the wing membrane.
  Its retractable, switchblade-like claws on its thumbs worked as grappling hooks to bring an animal to the ground, Wroe said.
  That argument is false, Sober said, because it assumes we know what God was trying to do with the panda's thumb.
  Synonyms
  digit, first digit, opposable digit
2. 1.2 The part of a glove intended to cover the thumb.
  （手套的）拇指部分
  Example sentencesExamples
  The thumb part of the glove should fold down underneath the fingers and point down.
  The top of the thumb is covered with nose friendly fabric so you can swipe away those tickles without rasping your shnoz.
  Put a few drops of peppermint oil on the thumb patches of your gloves, so you can sniff on the fly.
  A backhand catch in which the thumb of the glove points down and the glove-arm is positioned across the body must be practiced as much as the open-hand catch.
  Normally, there are four types of design of the glove's thumb, which are Wing Thumb, Straight Thumb, Keystone Thumb, and Reversible Thumb.

verbθəmTHəm

[with object]

1Press, move, or touch (something) with one's thumb.
用拇指揿（或按、摸、顶、指、戳、擦等）
as soon as she thumbed the button, the door slid open
她用拇指一触按钮，门就滑开了。
Example sentencesExamples
- He leaned over and thumbed the remote beside the lamp.
- He quickly thumbed the bee's wax out of his ears and tossed it on the ground.
- She thumbed the safety back into the ‘on’ position.
- Merlin thumbed the call switch and leaned forward.
- But the not-so-silent majority who march through our streets shouting into their mobile phones, or are furiously thumbing text messages to one another, may be less concerned.
- Despite the flurry of action as we hijack the room, he continues to thumb out a furious text message and refuses to say hello.
- No sooner have you thumbed the remote control, than legions of sherry-sodden aunts, bickering uncles and brattish weans are filing out of your living room.
- The pilot thumbs a firing button, and a family is blown to smithereens.
- The intercom beeped on a console near the galley and Merlin moved to thumb the control.
- He thumbed the buttons hard a couple of times, then pushed it aside.
- The door slid aside when he thumbed a square button beside the panel, but the lights did not come on automatically as they had in the corridor.
- At the ready with the muzzle up, you can quickly thumb a hammer back as you shoulder it.
- He passed one of the youth gangs on the way, muttering into their phones and thumbing at their keyboards, coordinating their crimefighting activities.
- The doorman thumbed the button and steel doors rang and parted open.
- I thumbed the button on my cell phone which bore the symbol of a green handset.
- He leaned forward and thumbed the intercom button on the computer terminal.
- Nakamura fished a cell phone from his pants pocket, and the device chirped as he thumbed the two-way communication button.
- However, at 127 minutes and with a dialogue-heavy middle, some more impatient folk may be thumbing the scan forward button.
Synonyms
press, push, push down, depress, lean on
1. 1.1 Turn over (pages) with or as if with one's thumb.
  用拇指翻动；翻阅
  I've thumbed my address book and found quite a range of smaller hotels
  我翻看我的通讯录，发现里面记了一长串的小旅馆。
  no object he was thumbing through that magazine for the umpteenth time
  他已经是不知第几次在翻阅这本《今日美国》了。
  Example sentencesExamples
  I was thumbing through the mail this afternoon, innocently enough, only to be frightened by this evil, leering tree that popped out at me.
  I find myself picking this book up and thumbing through it repetitively.
  The guard leans back in his booth, thumbing a paper, watching the clock.
  When I thumbed through his journal at the shop today I had the strong feeling that he never intended for these thoughts to be publicised.
  I sat on my bed and began thumbing through the pages of my fantasies.
  Students at Manchester University no longer need to thumb through dusty texts when reading classics of English literature.
  We've been thumbing through the guide to this year's Melbourne International Comedy Festival, trying to decide what we'll go see this year.
  It's all the rage, flick on your TV, thumb through a magazine or listen to the radio - everyone's at it.
  At the mid-point of the first running of this programme, I'm thumbing through some of those linkages in a self-imposed revision process.
  The President looked up from the papers he was thumbing through, and referred to some large, recent pro-Palestinian demonstrations in Turkey.
  Anyway, I am thumbing through the friendster pages via a search for ‘Interests: Blading’ in hope of finding some blading kakis.
  I duly placed the chilled pies into the microwave and commenced the cooking process and began thumbing through the newspaper.
  In fact, music critics everywhere are thumbing through a thesaurus, competing to compose a squirtier review of her impressive sophomore album.
  ‘This isn't working,’ mumbled Vladimir Vladimirovich as he pulled his presidential address book from his jacket pocket and started thumbing through it.
  After thumbing through a few pages, I was hooked immediately.
  Encyclopedias on CD-Rom can provide access to information much quicker than thumbing through stacks of books.
  In terms of the Powell approach, I'm not sure exactly what the Powell approach is, other than thumbing through his Rolodex.
  I picked up Toole's book because, thumbing through it, I'd read a paragraph that rang with truth as I had come to know it with Muhammad Ali.
  But who can deny perusing the headlines, even thumbing through the pages, of the occasional supermarket tabloid while waiting to ring up our groceries?
  Donna was eating Triscuts and thumbing through the Daily News.
  Synonyms
  leaf, flick, flip, skim, browse, glance, look, riffle
2. 1.2usually be thumbed Wear or soil (a book's pages) by repeated handling.
  翻旧（或翻破、翻脏）（书页）
  his dictionaries were thumbed and ink-stained
  他的词典均起折角，墨汁斑斑。
  Example sentencesExamples
  The following year I was keen to get hold of the latest version of the book that had become a well thumbed favourite.
  A well-thumbed Bible is always open on his desk in Edmonton's Parliament Building.
  The smell and feel of them but books that have been thumbed through by hundreds and gone yellowy don't have quite the same appeal.
  Some are so well thumbed that the tattered pages look ready to crumble.
  I do so love my books, so much so that I couldn't bring myself to read books that had been thumbed a thousand times over.
  In our own kids' bookshelves, they're the most battered, thumbed and falling-apart books, so often have they been read.
3. 1.3 Request or obtain (a free ride in a passing vehicle) by signaling with one's thumb.
  竖起拇指向过路汽车要求（免费搭乘）
  three cars passed me and I tried to thumb a ride
  三辆车经过我身边，我伸出拇指想搭便车。
  no object he was thumbing his way across France
  他搭乘便车行遍法国。
  Example sentencesExamples
  In those days, thumbing a lift was an accepted part of life for young people and even those who had long passed their middle age.
  You could otherwise hope that a friendly soul at the Clachaig will offer a lift, or thumb a ride back: you would be unlucky if no-one stopped.
  And even if he found out where he was working out in Rio, he couldn't very well thumb a ride out there, could he?
  After twenty minutes of delicate, measured thumbing at passing traffic, could we get a car to stop?
  She had thumbed through Central America with another girl.
  Reagan also stood on the corner of routes 26 and 29 in Ohio while thumbing a ride to Dixon.
  He had with him a folding bicycle and, thumbing a lift from the royal navy, safely crossed the channel and arrived back at Keevil, complete with bike.
  I spent a lot of my time thumbing a lift on the road between Naas and Athy.
  Plus, he couldn't risk drawing attention to himself by thumbing a ride.
  The A819 out of Inveraray is the most direct route north, but after 40 minutes of fruitless thumbing I decided to start walking in the hope of finding a more advantageous pitch.
  Later, while filling his car radiator with water at a service station, he offers a lift to a young woman who is also trying to thumb a ride west.
  He has no transport so can often be spotted thumbing a lift to games around the area.
  I was driving a car, I saw two people thumbing a lift near the Barlo garage on the outskirts of Kilkenny.
  Synonyms
  hitch-hike, ask for, request, signal for

Phrases

be all thumbs

Be clumsy or awkward in one's actions.
I'm all thumbs when it comes to making bows
Example sentencesExamples
- His bumbling, childlike Mr Bean was all thumbs and two left feet, and the fact that he rarely spoke meant his vaudevillian humour travelled well.
- I am not just all thumbs, more all toes.
- I'm trying to get a PDF of the letter up as well, but I'm all thumbs with this pesky technology, so bear with me.
- I've been all thumbs and screw up everything I touch.
- You are all thumbs in the kitchen.
- I'm all thumbs when it comes to any kind of decorating, even presents.
- "When she is working in the house, she is all thumbs."
- "I'm all thumbs when it comes to loading the reels."
- "He's all thumbs, Amelia."
- If you are all thumbs when it comes to your hair ask a talented friend or your favorite stylist to help you achieve this style.
Synonyms
clumsy, awkward, maladroit, inept, bungling, bumbling, incompetent, unskilful, heavy-handed, ungainly, inelegant, inexpert, graceless, ungraceful, gauche, unhandy, uncoordinated, gawky, cloddish, clodhopping

thumb one's nose at

informal Show disdain or contempt for.
〈非正式〉对…嗤之以鼻，蔑视
Example sentencesExamples
- There is nothing ordinary about a man who thumbs his nose at the system of justice and to reward him, in effect, with a pardon.
- William Kristol has used the page to attack Colin Powell, George Will to thumb his nose at the State Department and Robert Novak to deride the CIA.
- You can thumb your nose at all the people who are younger than you
- Even more significantly, in having married a black woman, Becker seemed to be thumbing his nose at deeply ingrained Aryan idealism.
- By thumbing our nose at the world and dismissing the consensus views of the scientific community, we are scaring off that talent and sending it to our competitors.
- He had the women, he had the gadgets and he was thumbing his nose at what was considered politically correct at the time.
- The reader or viewer who thumbs his nose at the copyright notice risks receiving a threatening letter from the copyright owner.
- Yet instead of pursuing a bi-partisan agenda, he has thumbed his nose at over half of the American population.
- We cannot allow activist local elected officials to thumb their nose at 5,000 years of human history.
- All you know is, there's no rule she's afraid to thumb her nose at.
Synonyms
defy, go against, rebel against, flout, fly in the face of, disobey, refuse to obey, disregard, ignore, set one's face against, kick against

thumbs up (or down)

informal An indication of satisfaction or approval (or of rejection or failure)
〈非正式〉赞同；赞赏，满意（或否定、排斥、反对、拒绝、抛弃）
plans to build a house on the site have been given the thumbs down by the Department of the Environment
环境部反对在这个地方建房的计划。
Example sentencesExamples
- It's with great regret that I give a collective thumbs down to a movie starring the normally entertaining Matthew Perry.
- Councillors agreed to send the letter at the January meeting of the local authority after giving the proposal a firm thumbs down.
- I made my challenge and he accepted it with his version of a thumbs up.
- The author - Jakob Nielsen - also gives a big thumbs down to subscriptions and advertisements.
- All three chief officers of the services have given it the thumbs up.
- Frequent-flier expert Randy Petersen gave a thumbs down to the move.
- Isn't it true that all the relevant statutory authorities have given the projects the thumbs up?
- Many watching the march demonstrated their approval by giving a thumbs up or by clapping.
- They seemed to approve of my subject because I received some thumbs up signals.
- It would be a pity that this event would not be celebrated and the thumbs up sign has already given it the green light.
Synonyms
rejection, refusal, veto, no, negation, rebuff, disapproval, turning down, turndown, non-acceptance, declining, dismissal, spurning, cold shoulder, cold-shouldering, snub, snubbing
approval, seal of approval, approbation, endorsement, welcome, encouragement

under someone's thumb

Completely under someone's influence or control.
在某人的支配（或控制）下，在某人的巨大影响之下
Example sentencesExamples
- Tenali Rama's interpretation: You must not become a shrew but must be so to some extent in order to keep your husband under your thumb.
- This is the beginning of the end for the British Army and their fight to keep the colonies under King George 's thumb.
- Give it a couple of weeks, and The Man will soon stop asking you to do anything, and soon enough you'll have him under your thumb.
- He was doing all those hurtful things people do when they think they have you under their thumb.
- ‘You must be really satisfied at how you managed to hook me under your thumb all these years,’ he went on relentlessly.
- God is the creation of a few powerful people to keep the gullible masses under their thumb.
- Keeping a ship with 460 people on board under Howard 's thumb for 6 days has cost $20 million, as much as it would have cost to keep these boat people in detention for 434 days.
- The solution to conflicts such as this is obviously not to put the police back under the military 's thumb.
- But Beck made little progress: advocates had the City Council under their thumb.
- The only other site capable of producing deuterium at the time was in Vemork, Norway, which had been under Hitler 's thumb since 1940.

Origin

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

单词	thumb
释义	Definition of thumb in English: thumb noun θʌmθəm 1The short, thick first digit of the human hand, set lower and apart from the other four and opposable to them. 拇指 Example sentencesExamples I wore four other rings; two thumb rings, a pinky ring, and another index finger ring. Lowell, currently sidelined by a broken left thumb, is one of 15 Marlins eligible for arbitration. Slowly everything around him lost clarity as he focused tightly on the thumb prints. While your arms are well rested to your sides, your sleeves should end where your thumbs begin. If you turn one hand so that both thumbs point the same way, that one will no longer be palm-up. Occasionally babies are born without a thumb or with a rudimentary thumb. She jerked her thumb over her shoulder towards the entrance without looking up. The Italian rider suffered concussion and a fractured left thumb that needed hospital treatment. I hooked my thumbs through my belt loops and observed the class. Do the exercise with your palms inward, thumbs pointing up. I jabbed a thumb in the opposite direction where an identical car was parked. The most commonly affected digits are the thumb and index finger. This section passes through the four fingers, the thumb having been seen for the last time in the preceding section. Nick held his thumb and forefinger apart about a half an inch. You know, twiddling your thumbs really isn't as easy as it looks, they keep knocking together. Using both hands, each testicle should be gently rolled between the thumb and index finger to find any lumps or irregular areas. C Jason Kendall is healthy again after a thumb injury ruined his 2001 season. Mole crickets can wreak havoc on lawns and golf courses: the adults dig burrows as big across as your thumb, and the larvae eat grass roots. It protrudes like a giant thumb from the east coast of Mexico, dividing the Gulf of Mexico from the Caribbean Sea. To understand parallax, hold your arm straight out in front of you and raise your thumb. The hands looked almost normal, with four fingers and an opposable thumb. Synonyms digit, first digit, opposable digit 1.1 The digit of primates or other mammals that corresponds to the human thumb. Example sentencesExamples Neighbors recognize each other by scent; unfamiliar visitors are greeted with a harsh snarl and a hooking thumb claw. Smoky bats are very small bats with much reduced thumbs that are mostly enclosed in the wing membrane. That argument is false, Sober said, because it assumes we know what God was trying to do with the panda's thumb. Its retractable, switchblade-like claws on its thumbs worked as grappling hooks to bring an animal to the ground, Wroe said. The thumb and toe claws have an extra talon, which is unique in bats. Stephen Jay Gould famously used the panda's thumb to illustrate the same principle. The thumb is small and has a vestigial claw, similar to the New World furipterids. The forefeet have 5 digits, but the thumb is reduced in size. The hind feet have five functional digits. One controversy centers on the utility of the Neanderthal thumb. Synonyms digit, first digit, opposable digit 1.2 The part of a glove that covers the thumb. （手套的）拇指部分 Example sentencesExamples The top of the thumb is covered with nose friendly fabric so you can swipe away those tickles without rasping your shnoz. The thumb part of the glove should fold down underneath the fingers and point down. Put a few drops of peppermint oil on the thumb patches of your gloves, so you can sniff on the fly. A backhand catch in which the thumb of the glove points down and the glove-arm is positioned across the body must be practiced as much as the open-hand catch. Normally, there are four types of design of the glove's thumb, which are Wing Thumb, Straight Thumb, Keystone Thumb, and Reversible Thumb. verb θʌmθəm [with object] 1Press, move, or touch (something) with one's thumb. 用拇指揿（或按、摸、顶、指、戳、擦等） as soon as she thumbed the button, the door slid open 她用拇指一触按钮，门就滑开了。 Example sentencesExamples I thumbed the button on my cell phone which bore the symbol of a green handset. Nakamura fished a cell phone from his pants pocket, and the device chirped as he thumbed the two-way communication button. He leaned forward and thumbed the intercom button on the computer terminal. But the not-so-silent majority who march through our streets shouting into their mobile phones, or are furiously thumbing text messages to one another, may be less concerned. He leaned over and thumbed the remote beside the lamp. She thumbed the safety back into the ‘on’ position. He passed one of the youth gangs on the way, muttering into their phones and thumbing at their keyboards, coordinating their crimefighting activities. He thumbed the buttons hard a couple of times, then pushed it aside. Despite the flurry of action as we hijack the room, he continues to thumb out a furious text message and refuses to say hello. The pilot thumbs a firing button, and a family is blown to smithereens. The door slid aside when he thumbed a square button beside the panel, but the lights did not come on automatically as they had in the corridor. Merlin thumbed the call switch and leaned forward. However, at 127 minutes and with a dialogue-heavy middle, some more impatient folk may be thumbing the scan forward button. He quickly thumbed the bee's wax out of his ears and tossed it on the ground. At the ready with the muzzle up, you can quickly thumb a hammer back as you shoulder it. The intercom beeped on a console near the galley and Merlin moved to thumb the control. No sooner have you thumbed the remote control, than legions of sherry-sodden aunts, bickering uncles and brattish weans are filing out of your living room. The doorman thumbed the button and steel doors rang and parted open. Synonyms press, push (down), depress, lean on 1.1no object Use one's thumb to indicate something. 用拇指示意 he thumbed towards the men behind him 他用拇指指着他后面的人。 Example sentencesExamples ‘Cassie’ she said simply, thumbing in the direction of the window. ‘Well, I fix that thing,’ Dreyden said, thumbing towards the ship, ‘when no one else is around.’ I think she's referring to the guy who is thumbing rudely at something. When I asked where the head was, a crewmember thumbed at the lee side of the boat. Debbie smirked at him and thumbed towards herself. 2Turn over (pages) with or as if with one's thumb. 用拇指翻动；翻阅 I've thumbed my address book and found quite a range of smaller hotels 我翻看我的通讯录，发现里面记了一长串的小旅馆。 no object he was thumbing throughUSA Today for the umpteenth time 他已经是不知第几次在翻阅这本《今日美国》了。 Example sentencesExamples I sat on my bed and began thumbing through the pages of my fantasies. We've been thumbing through the guide to this year's Melbourne International Comedy Festival, trying to decide what we'll go see this year. ‘This isn't working,’ mumbled Vladimir Vladimirovich as he pulled his presidential address book from his jacket pocket and started thumbing through it. Donna was eating Triscuts and thumbing through the Daily News. Encyclopedias on CD-Rom can provide access to information much quicker than thumbing through stacks of books. I duly placed the chilled pies into the microwave and commenced the cooking process and began thumbing through the newspaper. But who can deny perusing the headlines, even thumbing through the pages, of the occasional supermarket tabloid while waiting to ring up our groceries? After thumbing through a few pages, I was hooked immediately. In fact, music critics everywhere are thumbing through a thesaurus, competing to compose a squirtier review of her impressive sophomore album. I picked up Toole's book because, thumbing through it, I'd read a paragraph that rang with truth as I had come to know it with Muhammad Ali. The guard leans back in his booth, thumbing a paper, watching the clock. I was thumbing through the mail this afternoon, innocently enough, only to be frightened by this evil, leering tree that popped out at me. At the mid-point of the first running of this programme, I'm thumbing through some of those linkages in a self-imposed revision process. Anyway, I am thumbing through the friendster pages via a search for ‘Interests: Blading’ in hope of finding some blading kakis. It's all the rage, flick on your TV, thumb through a magazine or listen to the radio - everyone's at it. I find myself picking this book up and thumbing through it repetitively. Students at Manchester University no longer need to thumb through dusty texts when reading classics of English literature. The President looked up from the papers he was thumbing through, and referred to some large, recent pro-Palestinian demonstrations in Turkey. In terms of the Powell approach, I'm not sure exactly what the Powell approach is, other than thumbing through his Rolodex. When I thumbed through his journal at the shop today I had the strong feeling that he never intended for these thoughts to be publicised. Synonyms leaf, flick, flip, skim, browse, glance, look, riffle read, scan, dip into, run one's eye over, have a look at peruse 2.1 Wear or soil (a book's pages) by repeated handling. 翻旧（或翻破、翻脏）（书页） his dictionaries were thumbed and ink-stained 他的词典均起折角，墨汁斑斑。 Example sentencesExamples The smell and feel of them but books that have been thumbed through by hundreds and gone yellowy don't have quite the same appeal. The following year I was keen to get hold of the latest version of the book that had become a well thumbed favourite. Some are so well thumbed that the tattered pages look ready to crumble. In our own kids' bookshelves, they're the most battered, thumbed and falling-apart books, so often have they been read. A well-thumbed Bible is always open on his desk in Edmonton's Parliament Building. I do so love my books, so much so that I couldn't bring myself to read books that had been thumbed a thousand times over. 3Request or obtain (a free ride in a passing vehicle) by signalling with one's thumb. 竖起拇指向过路汽车要求（免费搭乘） three cars passed me and I tried to thumb a lift 三辆车经过我身边，我伸出拇指想搭便车。 he was thumbing his way across France 他搭乘便车行遍法国。 Example sentencesExamples I spent a lot of my time thumbing a lift on the road between Naas and Athy. He has no transport so can often be spotted thumbing a lift to games around the area. The A819 out of Inveraray is the most direct route north, but after 40 minutes of fruitless thumbing I decided to start walking in the hope of finding a more advantageous pitch. Later, while filling his car radiator with water at a service station, he offers a lift to a young woman who is also trying to thumb a ride west. And even if he found out where he was working out in Rio, he couldn't very well thumb a ride out there, could he? After twenty minutes of delicate, measured thumbing at passing traffic, could we get a car to stop? You could otherwise hope that a friendly soul at the Clachaig will offer a lift, or thumb a ride back: you would be unlucky if no-one stopped. Plus, he couldn't risk drawing attention to himself by thumbing a ride. She had thumbed through Central America with another girl. In those days, thumbing a lift was an accepted part of life for young people and even those who had long passed their middle age. I was driving a car, I saw two people thumbing a lift near the Barlo garage on the outskirts of Kilkenny. Reagan also stood on the corner of routes 26 and 29 in Ohio while thumbing a ride to Dixon. He had with him a folding bicycle and, thumbing a lift from the royal navy, safely crossed the channel and arrived back at Keevil, complete with bike. Synonyms hitch-hike, ask for, request, signal for get, obtain informal hitch, hitch a lift Phrases be all thumbs Be clumsy or awkward in one's actions. I'm all thumbs when it comes to making bows Example sentencesExamples I've been all thumbs and screw up everything I touch. "He's all thumbs, Amelia." "I'm all thumbs when it comes to loading the reels." I'm trying to get a PDF of the letter up as well, but I'm all thumbs with this pesky technology, so bear with me. "When she is working in the house, she is all thumbs." I'm all thumbs when it comes to any kind of decorating, even presents. If you are all thumbs when it comes to your hair ask a talented friend or your favorite stylist to help you achieve this style. His bumbling, childlike Mr Bean was all thumbs and two left feet, and the fact that he rarely spoke meant his vaudevillian humour travelled well. I am not just all thumbs, more all toes. You are all thumbs in the kitchen. Synonyms clumsy, awkward, maladroit, inept, bungling, bumbling, incompetent, unskilful, heavy-handed, ungainly, inelegant, inexpert, graceless, ungraceful, gauche, unhandy, uncoordinated, gawky, cloddish, clodhopping thumb one's nose at informal Show disdain or contempt for. 〈非正式〉对…嗤之以鼻，蔑视 high-strung and unpredictable, he routinely thumbed his nose at authority Example sentencesExamples William Kristol has used the page to attack Colin Powell, George Will to thumb his nose at the State Department and Robert Novak to deride the CIA. We cannot allow activist local elected officials to thumb their nose at 5,000 years of human history. Even more significantly, in having married a black woman, Becker seemed to be thumbing his nose at deeply ingrained Aryan idealism. By thumbing our nose at the world and dismissing the consensus views of the scientific community, we are scaring off that talent and sending it to our competitors. You can thumb your nose at all the people who are younger than you Yet instead of pursuing a bi-partisan agenda, he has thumbed his nose at over half of the American population. He had the women, he had the gadgets and he was thumbing his nose at what was considered politically correct at the time. The reader or viewer who thumbs his nose at the copyright notice risks receiving a threatening letter from the copyright owner. All you know is, there's no rule she's afraid to thumb her nose at. There is nothing ordinary about a man who thumbs his nose at the system of justice and to reward him, in effect, with a pardon. Synonyms defy, go against, rebel against, flout, fly in the face of, disobey, refuse to obey, disregard, ignore, set one's face against, kick against break, violate, contravene, breach, infringe informal cock a snook at archaic set at naught thumbs up (or down) informal An indication of satisfaction or approval (or of rejection or failure) 〈非正式〉赞同；赞赏，满意（或否定、排斥、反对、拒绝、抛弃） plans to build a house on the site have been given the thumbs down by the Department of the Environment 环境部反对在这个地方建房的计划。 Example sentencesExamples It would be a pity that this event would not be celebrated and the thumbs up sign has already given it the green light. Councillors agreed to send the letter at the January meeting of the local authority after giving the proposal a firm thumbs down. I made my challenge and he accepted it with his version of a thumbs up. Frequent-flier expert Randy Petersen gave a thumbs down to the move. Isn't it true that all the relevant statutory authorities have given the projects the thumbs up? All three chief officers of the services have given it the thumbs up. Many watching the march demonstrated their approval by giving a thumbs up or by clapping. The author - Jakob Nielsen - also gives a big thumbs down to subscriptions and advertisements. They seemed to approve of my subject because I received some thumbs up signals. It's with great regret that I give a collective thumbs down to a movie starring the normally entertaining Matthew Perry. Synonyms rejection, refusal, veto, no, negation, rebuff, disapproval, turning down, turndown, non-acceptance, declining, dismissal, spurning, cold shoulder, cold-shouldering, snub, snubbing informal red light, knock-back, kick in the teeth, smack in the face/eye approval, seal of approval, approbation, endorsement, welcome, encouragement permission, liberty, authorization, consent, yes, leave, authority, sanction, ratification, licence, dispensation, nod, assent, acquiescence, agreement, blessing, imprimatur, rubber stamp, clearance, acceptance informal go-ahead, the OK, green light, say-so rare permit under someone's thumb Completely under someone's influence or control. 在某人的支配（或控制）下，在某人的巨大影响之下 he was very much under the thumb of his father Example sentencesExamples Keeping a ship with 460 people on board under Howard 's thumb for 6 days has cost $20 million, as much as it would have cost to keep these boat people in detention for 434 days. But Beck made little progress: advocates had the City Council under their thumb. Tenali Rama's interpretation: You must not become a shrew but must be so to some extent in order to keep your husband under your thumb. He was doing all those hurtful things people do when they think they have you under their thumb. This is the beginning of the end for the British Army and their fight to keep the colonies under King George 's thumb. The solution to conflicts such as this is obviously not to put the police back under the military 's thumb. Give it a couple of weeks, and The Man will soon stop asking you to do anything, and soon enough you'll have him under your thumb. God is the creation of a few powerful people to keep the gullible masses under their thumb. ‘You must be really satisfied at how you managed to hook me under your thumb all these years,’ he went on relentlessly. The only other site capable of producing deuterium at the time was in Vemork, Norway, which had been under Hitler 's thumb since 1940. Derivatives thumbless adjective ˈθʌmləsˈθəmləs Pretty soon the clouds lifted and there in front of me were the peaks, soaring like a giant thumbless hand into the clouds. Example sentencesExamples But despite worldwide disapproval, these thumbless inbreds are emigrating in droves. The name Colobus is derived from the German language to mean thumbless, which is a characteristic of Colobus monkeys. He was the one who talked filth to Laura Dern in Wild At Heart and more recently played a thumbless Canadian spy in The English Patient. With her fingers inside the thumbless muffs, she couldn't work the snaps, and that was so frustrating! Origin Old 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 century, first in the sense 'play (a musical instrument) with the thumbs'. Like finger, thumb is Old English. It shares an ancient root with Latin tumere ‘to swell’, probably because the thumb is a ‘fat’ or ‘swollen’ finger. Thimble is formed from thumb, in the same way that handle is formed from hand. The expression thumbs up, showing satisfaction or approval, and its opposite thumbs down, indicating rejection or failure, hark back to the days of Roman gladiatorial combat. The thumbs were used to signal approval or disapproval by the spectators—despite what many people believe, though, they turned their thumbs down to indicate that a beaten gladiator had performed well and should be spared, and up to call for his death. The reversal of the phrases' meaning first appeared in the early 20th century. In one of the stories from Rudyard Kipling's Puck of Pook's Hill (1906), a Roman centurion facing a bleak future says to his friend, ‘We're finished men—thumbs down against both of us.’ In Shakespeare's Macbeth the Second Witch says as she sees Macbeth, ‘By the pricking of my thumbs, / Something wicked this way comes.’ A sensation of pricking in the thumbs was believed to be a foreboding of evil or trouble. See also limb, rule Rhymes become, benumb, Brum, bum, chum, crumb, drum, glum, gum, ho-hum, hum, Kara Kum, lum, mum, numb, plum, plumb, Rhum, rhumb, rum, scrum, scum, slum, some, strum, stum, succumb, sum, swum, thrum, tum, yum-yum noun.1 phr. Definition of thumb in US English: thumb nounθəmTHəm 1The short, thick first digit of the human hand, set lower and apart from the other four and opposable to them. 拇指 Example sentencesExamples You know, twiddling your thumbs really isn't as easy as it looks, they keep knocking together. She jerked her thumb over her shoulder towards the entrance without looking up. To understand parallax, hold your arm straight out in front of you and raise your thumb. The Italian rider suffered concussion and a fractured left thumb that needed hospital treatment. While your arms are well rested to your sides, your sleeves should end where your thumbs begin. It protrudes like a giant thumb from the east coast of Mexico, dividing the Gulf of Mexico from the Caribbean Sea. This section passes through the four fingers, the thumb having been seen for the last time in the preceding section. If you turn one hand so that both thumbs point the same way, that one will no longer be palm-up. Do the exercise with your palms inward, thumbs pointing up. Lowell, currently sidelined by a broken left thumb, is one of 15 Marlins eligible for arbitration. C Jason Kendall is healthy again after a thumb injury ruined his 2001 season. I jabbed a thumb in the opposite direction where an identical car was parked. Occasionally babies are born without a thumb or with a rudimentary thumb. I hooked my thumbs through my belt loops and observed the class. The hands looked almost normal, with four fingers and an opposable thumb. Mole crickets can wreak havoc on lawns and golf courses: the adults dig burrows as big across as your thumb, and the larvae eat grass roots. Slowly everything around him lost clarity as he focused tightly on the thumb prints. Nick held his thumb and forefinger apart about a half an inch. I wore four other rings; two thumb rings, a pinky ring, and another index finger ring. Using both hands, each testicle should be gently rolled between the thumb and index finger to find any lumps or irregular areas. The most commonly affected digits are the thumb and index finger. Synonyms digit, first digit, opposable digit 1.1 The corresponding digit of primates or other mammals. （灵长目动物或其他哺乳动物的）第一指 Example sentencesExamples The forefeet have 5 digits, but the thumb is reduced in size. The hind feet have five functional digits. Neighbors recognize each other by scent; unfamiliar visitors are greeted with a harsh snarl and a hooking thumb claw. The thumb is small and has a vestigial claw, similar to the New World furipterids. Stephen Jay Gould famously used the panda's thumb to illustrate the same principle. One controversy centers on the utility of the Neanderthal thumb. The thumb and toe claws have an extra talon, which is unique in bats. Smoky bats are very small bats with much reduced thumbs that are mostly enclosed in the wing membrane. Its retractable, switchblade-like claws on its thumbs worked as grappling hooks to bring an animal to the ground, Wroe said. That argument is false, Sober said, because it assumes we know what God was trying to do with the panda's thumb. Synonyms digit, first digit, opposable digit 1.2 The part of a glove intended to cover the thumb. （手套的）拇指部分 Example sentencesExamples The thumb part of the glove should fold down underneath the fingers and point down. The top of the thumb is covered with nose friendly fabric so you can swipe away those tickles without rasping your shnoz. Put a few drops of peppermint oil on the thumb patches of your gloves, so you can sniff on the fly. A backhand catch in which the thumb of the glove points down and the glove-arm is positioned across the body must be practiced as much as the open-hand catch. Normally, there are four types of design of the glove's thumb, which are Wing Thumb, Straight Thumb, Keystone Thumb, and Reversible Thumb. verbθəmTHəm [with object] 1Press, move, or touch (something) with one's thumb. 用拇指揿（或按、摸、顶、指、戳、擦等） as soon as she thumbed the button, the door slid open 她用拇指一触按钮，门就滑开了。 Example sentencesExamples He leaned over and thumbed the remote beside the lamp. He quickly thumbed the bee's wax out of his ears and tossed it on the ground. She thumbed the safety back into the ‘on’ position. Merlin thumbed the call switch and leaned forward. But the not-so-silent majority who march through our streets shouting into their mobile phones, or are furiously thumbing text messages to one another, may be less concerned. Despite the flurry of action as we hijack the room, he continues to thumb out a furious text message and refuses to say hello. No sooner have you thumbed the remote control, than legions of sherry-sodden aunts, bickering uncles and brattish weans are filing out of your living room. The pilot thumbs a firing button, and a family is blown to smithereens. The intercom beeped on a console near the galley and Merlin moved to thumb the control. He thumbed the buttons hard a couple of times, then pushed it aside. The door slid aside when he thumbed a square button beside the panel, but the lights did not come on automatically as they had in the corridor. At the ready with the muzzle up, you can quickly thumb a hammer back as you shoulder it. He passed one of the youth gangs on the way, muttering into their phones and thumbing at their keyboards, coordinating their crimefighting activities. The doorman thumbed the button and steel doors rang and parted open. I thumbed the button on my cell phone which bore the symbol of a green handset. He leaned forward and thumbed the intercom button on the computer terminal. Nakamura fished a cell phone from his pants pocket, and the device chirped as he thumbed the two-way communication button. However, at 127 minutes and with a dialogue-heavy middle, some more impatient folk may be thumbing the scan forward button. Synonyms press, push, push down, depress, lean on 1.1 Turn over (pages) with or as if with one's thumb. 用拇指翻动；翻阅 I've thumbed my address book and found quite a range of smaller hotels 我翻看我的通讯录，发现里面记了一长串的小旅馆。 no object he was thumbing through that magazine for the umpteenth time 他已经是不知第几次在翻阅这本《今日美国》了。 Example sentencesExamples I was thumbing through the mail this afternoon, innocently enough, only to be frightened by this evil, leering tree that popped out at me. I find myself picking this book up and thumbing through it repetitively. The guard leans back in his booth, thumbing a paper, watching the clock. When I thumbed through his journal at the shop today I had the strong feeling that he never intended for these thoughts to be publicised. I sat on my bed and began thumbing through the pages of my fantasies. Students at Manchester University no longer need to thumb through dusty texts when reading classics of English literature. We've been thumbing through the guide to this year's Melbourne International Comedy Festival, trying to decide what we'll go see this year. It's all the rage, flick on your TV, thumb through a magazine or listen to the radio - everyone's at it. At the mid-point of the first running of this programme, I'm thumbing through some of those linkages in a self-imposed revision process. The President looked up from the papers he was thumbing through, and referred to some large, recent pro-Palestinian demonstrations in Turkey. Anyway, I am thumbing through the friendster pages via a search for ‘Interests: Blading’ in hope of finding some blading kakis. I duly placed the chilled pies into the microwave and commenced the cooking process and began thumbing through the newspaper. In fact, music critics everywhere are thumbing through a thesaurus, competing to compose a squirtier review of her impressive sophomore album. ‘This isn't working,’ mumbled Vladimir Vladimirovich as he pulled his presidential address book from his jacket pocket and started thumbing through it. After thumbing through a few pages, I was hooked immediately. Encyclopedias on CD-Rom can provide access to information much quicker than thumbing through stacks of books. In terms of the Powell approach, I'm not sure exactly what the Powell approach is, other than thumbing through his Rolodex. I picked up Toole's book because, thumbing through it, I'd read a paragraph that rang with truth as I had come to know it with Muhammad Ali. But who can deny perusing the headlines, even thumbing through the pages, of the occasional supermarket tabloid while waiting to ring up our groceries? Donna was eating Triscuts and thumbing through the Daily News. Synonyms leaf, flick, flip, skim, browse, glance, look, riffle 1.2usually be thumbed Wear or soil (a book's pages) by repeated handling. 翻旧（或翻破、翻脏）（书页） his dictionaries were thumbed and ink-stained 他的词典均起折角，墨汁斑斑。 Example sentencesExamples The following year I was keen to get hold of the latest version of the book that had become a well thumbed favourite. A well-thumbed Bible is always open on his desk in Edmonton's Parliament Building. The smell and feel of them but books that have been thumbed through by hundreds and gone yellowy don't have quite the same appeal. Some are so well thumbed that the tattered pages look ready to crumble. I do so love my books, so much so that I couldn't bring myself to read books that had been thumbed a thousand times over. In our own kids' bookshelves, they're the most battered, thumbed and falling-apart books, so often have they been read. 1.3 Request or obtain (a free ride in a passing vehicle) by signaling with one's thumb. 竖起拇指向过路汽车要求（免费搭乘） three cars passed me and I tried to thumb a ride 三辆车经过我身边，我伸出拇指想搭便车。 no object he was thumbing his way across France 他搭乘便车行遍法国。 Example sentencesExamples In those days, thumbing a lift was an accepted part of life for young people and even those who had long passed their middle age. You could otherwise hope that a friendly soul at the Clachaig will offer a lift, or thumb a ride back: you would be unlucky if no-one stopped. And even if he found out where he was working out in Rio, he couldn't very well thumb a ride out there, could he? After twenty minutes of delicate, measured thumbing at passing traffic, could we get a car to stop? She had thumbed through Central America with another girl. Reagan also stood on the corner of routes 26 and 29 in Ohio while thumbing a ride to Dixon. He had with him a folding bicycle and, thumbing a lift from the royal navy, safely crossed the channel and arrived back at Keevil, complete with bike. I spent a lot of my time thumbing a lift on the road between Naas and Athy. Plus, he couldn't risk drawing attention to himself by thumbing a ride. The A819 out of Inveraray is the most direct route north, but after 40 minutes of fruitless thumbing I decided to start walking in the hope of finding a more advantageous pitch. Later, while filling his car radiator with water at a service station, he offers a lift to a young woman who is also trying to thumb a ride west. He has no transport so can often be spotted thumbing a lift to games around the area. I was driving a car, I saw two people thumbing a lift near the Barlo garage on the outskirts of Kilkenny. Synonyms hitch-hike, ask for, request, signal for Phrases be all thumbs Be clumsy or awkward in one's actions. I'm all thumbs when it comes to making bows Example sentencesExamples His bumbling, childlike Mr Bean was all thumbs and two left feet, and the fact that he rarely spoke meant his vaudevillian humour travelled well. I am not just all thumbs, more all toes. I'm trying to get a PDF of the letter up as well, but I'm all thumbs with this pesky technology, so bear with me. I've been all thumbs and screw up everything I touch. You are all thumbs in the kitchen. I'm all thumbs when it comes to any kind of decorating, even presents. "When she is working in the house, she is all thumbs." "I'm all thumbs when it comes to loading the reels." "He's all thumbs, Amelia." If you are all thumbs when it comes to your hair ask a talented friend or your favorite stylist to help you achieve this style. Synonyms clumsy, awkward, maladroit, inept, bungling, bumbling, incompetent, unskilful, heavy-handed, ungainly, inelegant, inexpert, graceless, ungraceful, gauche, unhandy, uncoordinated, gawky, cloddish, clodhopping thumb one's nose at informal Show disdain or contempt for. 〈非正式〉对…嗤之以鼻，蔑视 Example sentencesExamples There is nothing ordinary about a man who thumbs his nose at the system of justice and to reward him, in effect, with a pardon. William Kristol has used the page to attack Colin Powell, George Will to thumb his nose at the State Department and Robert Novak to deride the CIA. You can thumb your nose at all the people who are younger than you Even more significantly, in having married a black woman, Becker seemed to be thumbing his nose at deeply ingrained Aryan idealism. By thumbing our nose at the world and dismissing the consensus views of the scientific community, we are scaring off that talent and sending it to our competitors. He had the women, he had the gadgets and he was thumbing his nose at what was considered politically correct at the time. The reader or viewer who thumbs his nose at the copyright notice risks receiving a threatening letter from the copyright owner. Yet instead of pursuing a bi-partisan agenda, he has thumbed his nose at over half of the American population. We cannot allow activist local elected officials to thumb their nose at 5,000 years of human history. All you know is, there's no rule she's afraid to thumb her nose at. Synonyms defy, go against, rebel against, flout, fly in the face of, disobey, refuse to obey, disregard, ignore, set one's face against, kick against thumbs up (or down) informal An indication of satisfaction or approval (or of rejection or failure) 〈非正式〉赞同；赞赏，满意（或否定、排斥、反对、拒绝、抛弃） plans to build a house on the site have been given the thumbs down by the Department of the Environment 环境部反对在这个地方建房的计划。 Example sentencesExamples It's with great regret that I give a collective thumbs down to a movie starring the normally entertaining Matthew Perry. Councillors agreed to send the letter at the January meeting of the local authority after giving the proposal a firm thumbs down. I made my challenge and he accepted it with his version of a thumbs up. The author - Jakob Nielsen - also gives a big thumbs down to subscriptions and advertisements. All three chief officers of the services have given it the thumbs up. Frequent-flier expert Randy Petersen gave a thumbs down to the move. Isn't it true that all the relevant statutory authorities have given the projects the thumbs up? Many watching the march demonstrated their approval by giving a thumbs up or by clapping. They seemed to approve of my subject because I received some thumbs up signals. It would be a pity that this event would not be celebrated and the thumbs up sign has already given it the green light. Synonyms rejection, refusal, veto, no, negation, rebuff, disapproval, turning down, turndown, non-acceptance, declining, dismissal, spurning, cold shoulder, cold-shouldering, snub, snubbing approval, seal of approval, approbation, endorsement, welcome, encouragement under someone's thumb Completely under someone's influence or control. 在某人的支配（或控制）下，在某人的巨大影响之下 Example sentencesExamples Tenali Rama's interpretation: You must not become a shrew but must be so to some extent in order to keep your husband under your thumb. This is the beginning of the end for the British Army and their fight to keep the colonies under King George 's thumb. Give it a couple of weeks, and The Man will soon stop asking you to do anything, and soon enough you'll have him under your thumb. He was doing all those hurtful things people do when they think they have you under their thumb. ‘You must be really satisfied at how you managed to hook me under your thumb all these years,’ he went on relentlessly. God is the creation of a few powerful people to keep the gullible masses under their thumb. Keeping a ship with 460 people on board under Howard 's thumb for 6 days has cost $20 million, as much as it would have cost to keep these boat people in detention for 434 days. The solution to conflicts such as this is obviously not to put the police back under the military 's thumb. But Beck made little progress: advocates had the City Council under their thumb. The only other site capable of producing deuterium at the time was in Vemork, Norway, which had been under Hitler 's thumb since 1940. Origin Old 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 century, first in the sense ‘play (a musical instrument) with the thumbs’. noun.1 phr.
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