Thumb

8 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Thumb \Thumb\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Thumbed}; p. pr. & vb. n.
     {Thumbing}.]
     1. To handle awkwardly. --Johnson.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. To play with the thumbs, or with the thumbs and fingers;


        as, to thumb over a tune.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. To soil or wear with the thumb or the fingers; to soil, or
        wear out, by frequent handling; also, to cover with the
        thumb; as, to thumb the touch-hole of a cannon.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              He gravely informed the enemy that all his cards had
              been thumbed to pieces, and begged them to let him
              have a few more packs.                --Macaulay.
        [1913 Webster]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Thumb \Thumb\, n. [OE. thombe, thoumbe, [thorn]ume, AS.
     [thorn][=u]ma; akin to OFries. th[=u]ma, D. duim, G. daumen,
     OHG. d[=u]mo, Icel. [thorn]umall, Dan. tommelfinger, Sw.
     tumme, and perhaps to L. tumere to swell. [root]56. Cf.
     {Thimble}, {Tumid}.]
     The short, thick first digit of the human hand, differing
     from the other fingers in having but two phalanges; the
     pollex. See {Pollex}.
     [1913 Webster]
  
           Upon his thumb he had of gold a ring.    --Chaucer.
     [1913 Webster]
  
     {Thumb band}, a twist of anything as thick as the thumb.
        --Mortimer.
  
     {Thumb blue}, indigo in the form of small balls or lumps,
        used by washerwomen to blue linen, and the like.
  
     {Thumb latch}, a door latch having a lever formed to be
        pressed by the thumb.
  
     {Thumb mark}.
     (a) The mark left by the impression of a thumb, as on the
         leaves of a book. --Longfellow.
     (b) The dark spot over each foot in finely bred black and tan
         terriers.
  
     {Thumb nut}, a nut for a screw, having wings to grasp between
        the thumb and fingers in turning it; also, a nut with a
        knurled rim for the same perpose.
  
     {Thumb ring}, a ring worn on the thumb. --Shak.
  
     {Thumb stall}.
     (a) A kind of thimble or ferrule of iron, or leather, for
         protecting the thumb in making sails, and in other work.
     (b) (Mil.) A buckskin cushion worn on the thumb, and used to
         close the vent of a cannon while it is sponged, or
         loaded.
  
     {Under one's thumb}, completely under one's power or
        influence; in a condition of subservience. [Colloq.]
        [1913 Webster]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Thumb \Thumb\, v. i.
     To play with the thumb or thumbs; to play clumsily; to thrum.
     [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  thumb
       n 1: the thick short innermost digit of the forelimb [syn: {pollex}]
       2: the part of a glove that provides a covering for the thumb
       3: a convex molding having a cross section in the form of a
          quarter of a circle or of an ellipse [syn: {ovolo}, {quarter
          round}]
       v 1: travel by getting free rides from motorists [syn: {hitchhike},
             {hitch}]
       2: look through a book or other written material; "He thumbed
          through the report"; "She leafed through the volume" [syn:
           {flick}, {flip}, {riffle}, {leaf}, {riff}]
       3: feel or handle with the fingers; "finger the binding of the
          book" [syn: {finger}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  60 Moby Thesaurus words for "thumb":
     OK, accept, all thumbs, annulary, approve of, awkward,
     be contemptuous of, catch a ride, clumsy, come in contact, contemn,
     dactylion, deride, digit, disapprove of, dismiss, feel, feel of,
     finger, flick, flip through, flout, forefinger, ham-fisted, handle,
     hitch, hitch a ride, hitch rides, hitchhike, index, index finger,
     jeer at, little finger, maladroit, manipulate, medius,
     middle finger, minimus, mock, okay, palm, palpate, paw, pinkie,
     ply, poke at, pollex, prod, rebuff, reject, ring finger, scoff at,
     scorn, tap, thumb through, touch, turn down, twiddle, welcome,
     wield
  
  

From Jargon File (4.3.1, 29 Jun 2001) [jargon]:

  thumb n. The slider on a window-system scrollbar. So called because
     moving it allows you to browse through the contents of a text window in
     a way analogous to thumbing through a book.
  
  

From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03) [foldoc]:

  thumb
       
           The slider or "bubble" on a window system
          {scrollbar}.  So called because moving it allows you to browse
          through the contents of a text window in a way analogous to
          thumbing through a book.
       
          [{Jargon File}]
       
          (1995-03-14)
       
       

From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03) [foldoc]:

  Thumb
       
           An extension to the {Advanced RISC Machine}
          architecture, announced on 06 March 1995 by {Advanced RISC
          Machines} Ltd.  By identifying the critical subset of the ARM
          {instruction set} and encoding it into 16 bits, ARM has
          succeeded in reducing typical program size by 30-40% from
          ARM's already excellent code density.  Since this Thumb
          instruction set uses less memory for program storage, cost is
          further reduced.
       
          All Thumb-aware {processor core}s combine the capability to
          execute both the 32-bit ARM and the 16-bit Thumb instruction
          sets.  Careful design of the Thumb instructions allow them to
          be decompressed into full ARM instructions transparently
          during normal instruction decoding without any performance
          penalty.  This differs from other 32-bit processors, like the
          {Intel 486SX}, with a 16-bit data bus, which require two
          16-bit memory accesses to execute every 32-bit instruction and
          so halve performance.
       
          The patented Thumb decompressor has been carefully designed
          with only a small amount of circuitry additional to the
          existing instruction decoder, so chip size and thus cost do
          not significantly increase.  Designers can easily interleave
          fast ARM instructions (for performance critical parts of a
          program) with compact Thumb code to save memory.
       
          (1995-03-14)