thumb
[verb]
Synonyms: hitchhike, hitch

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Related Idioms: thumb a ride

[TahlilGaran] English Synonym Dictionary ▲

I. thumb¹ /θʌm/ noun [countable]
[Language: Old English; Origin: thuma]

1. the part of your hand that is shaped like a thick short finger and helps you to hold things:
a baby sucking its thumb
She held the coin carefully between finger and thumb.

2. the part of a glove that fits over your thumb

3. be all fingers and thumbs British English, be all thumbs American English informal to be unable to do something in which you have to make small careful movements with your fingers:
Would you do up these buttons for me? I seem to be all thumbs today.

4. the thumbs up/down informal when an idea or plan is officially accepted or not accepted:
The project was finally given the thumbs up.
Her performance got the thumbs down from the critics.

5. be under sb’s thumb to be so strongly influenced by someone that they control you completely:
He was still under his father’s thumb.
⇒ rule of thumb at rule¹(8), ⇒ stand/stick out like a sore thumb at sore¹(6)

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲

II. thumb² verb

1. thumb a lift British English, thumb a ride American English informal to persuade a driver of a passing car to stop and take you somewhere, by putting your hand out with your thumb raised:
I thumbed a lift into town.

2. thumb your nose at somebody/something to show that you do not respect rules, laws etc or you do not care what someone thinks of you:
a chance to thumb his nose at the college authorities
thumb through something phrasal verb
to look through a book, magazine etc quickly:
I began thumbing through the pages of a gardening catalogue.

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲

thumb
noun
VERB + THUMB suck | flick, jab, jerk ‘What'll we do with them?’ he asked, jerking his thumb at the suitca
raise, stick out He smiled and raised a thumb in greeting. I stuck out a thumb and a car stopped immediately.
twiddle (often figurative) I sat there twiddling my thumbs until the manager finally appeared.
THUMB + NOUN nail (also thumbnail)
PHRASES between finger and thumb/between thumb and forefinger I picked up the beetle carefully between finger and thumb.
thumbs up He made a thumbs-up sign through the window to tell us everything was fine.

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

thumb
θʌm
See: all thumbs , green thumb , turn thumbs down , twiddle one's thumbs , under one's thumb or under the thumb of

[TahlilGaran] English Idioms Dictionary ▲