👍 A finger 📖 To flip pages 🚗 To hitchhike 🤏 To handle

to thumb

4 3.7

To move or touch something using the short, thick finger at the side of the hand

verb
/θʌm/

: tocar con el pulgar

Ike sat, effeminately crossed his legs, positioned the guitar across his thigh, and gently thumbed the strings.
thumb the switch
thumb the phone
thumb the lock

Yeah, or no, he's not thumbing it on there, is he?

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Examples

Lando thumbed a protective cover out of the way and touched a button.

Fiction book (1991)
I just like was thumbing it, touching it, feeling the cold steel.
So you thumb, thumb to the left from the left to the right.
So I go thumb and I go behind the ear.

Lex Fridman
With a sense of shock, Roger thumbed rapidly through the bundle of clippings, then returned to read them more carefully.

Fiction book (1992)
Arriving at Rose's promptly at eight, she thumbed the front-door buzzer.

Fiction book (1998)
She carefully thumbed through the pages of the old photo album, looking for her favorite pictures.
Before sending the message, he thumbed the screen to double-check for any typos.
As she thumbed through the menu, she decided on the pasta special for dinner.

Synonyms

to handle

vsto thumb

328 1.0

Touch or hold something with your hands, often carefully

is more about repeated exploratory touching rather than careful skillful use

to finger

vsto thumb

31 2.8

To touch something with your fingers in a careful or curious way

is mainly repeated or exploratory touch not a single deliberate action

to pick at

vsto thumb

5 3.8

Pull at something with your fingers again and again, often nervously

is exploratory repeated touching rather than nervous or fidgety pulling

to pluck at

vsto thumb

3 6.1

To pull lightly and repeatedly at something with your fingers

is broader, covering repeated exploratory touching not only light tugging

Idioms

to thumb one's nose at

Informal

8 9.2

To show open disrespect by refusing to follow rules or customs

thumb on the scale

Informal

1 8.5

To make a process unfair to give someone an advantage

Phrasal Verbs

to thumb a ride

Archaic

1 8.2

To get a free ride from a passing car by standing by the road and showing your thumb

Compounds

rule of thumb

Informal

31 3.8

A simple practical way to do or decide things from experience that is not exact

green thumb

Informal

8 3.6

A natural ability to make plants grow well

brown thumb

Informal

1 7.9

A person who cannot grow plants successfully

butcher's thumb

Jargon

9.9

A way to check how soft meat is by pressing it with the thumb

butcher's thumb technique

Jargon

9.4

A skill butchers use with their thumb to make precise cuts

e-thumb

Texting

7.7

An online click that shows you like or support a post

miller's-thumb

9.9

A small freshwater fish with a broad flat head that lives among stones in fast streams

Mother Thumb

Baby Talk

8.6

A small nursery rhyme character a child shows on their thumb to teach finger names

Mother Thumb and her four daughters

Baby Talk

9.9

A simple game for children using the thumb and four fingers to help them move well

hop-o'-my-thumb

Literature

9.9

A very small clever boy in a fairy tale who solves problems

thumb index

Specialized

7.2

Small cuts in a book edge that help you open to chapters

Tom Thumb

9.3

A very small person used as a playful name

Surface Forms

thumb infinitive

thumbed past

thumbed past participle

thumbing present participle

thumbs third person singular

Etymology

The verb thumb comes from the name of the finger and means to touch or handle something with your thumb or fingers, often to feel or test it, which is why we say someone 'thumbed' an object when they moved it with their thumb.