thumb
verb/θʌm/
/θʌm/
Verb Forms
Idioms Phrasal Verbs| 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/ |
- [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.
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- [transitive] thumb something (+ adv./prep.) to touch or move something with your thumb
- She thumbed off the safety catch of her pistol.
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
See thumb in the Oxford Advanced American Dictionarythumb 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.
Check pronunciation:
thumb