thumb
part of speech
noun (a thumb, thumbs); verb (thumb, thumbs, thumbed, thumbing)
meaning for a pupil
1) Your thumb is the short, thick finger on the side of your hand. tree →
2) To thumb through a book means to turn the pages quickly. tree →
3) Thumbs up means good or yes; thumbs down means bad or no. tree →
sense in the lessons
In science lessons the thumb is opposable — it can touch the other fingers — which helps humans grip and use tools. In everyday life «rule of thumb» means a rough, practical rule. Phrases: «thumbs up», «rule of thumb», «green thumb», «under someone's thumb», «all thumbs».
examples
- She gave me a thumbs up. tree →
- I hurt my thumb in the door. tree →
- He thumbed through the comic. tree →
- My grandma has a green thumb; her plants grow so well. tree →
- A rule of thumb is to drink water when you are thirsty. tree →
- Babies often suck their thumbs. tree →
- I'm all thumbs today — I keep dropping things. tree →
- Now this was a curious property that Fin's thumb had. tree →
note
Countable. Silent b: THUM. «Green thumb» (US) = «green fingers» (UK). «All thumbs» = clumsy. In some countries a thumbs up can be rude, so check local customs.
In the corpora
- Schools teach the tripod grip: the pencil pinched between thumb and first finger, resting on the middle finger, near the tip.
- Good hand washing rubs the palms, the backs, between the fingers, the thumbs, the fingertips and the wrists.
- The rule of thumb: if it sounds too good to be true, it almost always is.
- Kai stared at his own skins — one slightly sad llama — and his thumb hovered over «yes».
- Sore thumbs or hands after playing are a sign to take a break, not a badge of skill.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «thumb» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.