different between thumby vs thumb

English

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

From thumb +? -y/-ie (diminutive suffix).

Noun

thumby (plural thumbies)

1. (slang) A little thumb; diminutive term for thumb

Synonyms

• pollex
• thumb

See also

• pointling

Etymology 2

From thumb +? -y.

Adjective

thumby (comparative thumbier, superlative thumbiest)

1. Clumsy, awkward, maladroit, not dextrous, all thumbs
   • 1896, Harriet Beecher Stowe, The Pearl of Orr's Island: A Story of the Coast of Maine, Boston & New York: Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Chapter 29, [1]

     "Well, I don't tease anybody but the men. I don't tease father or mother or you,—but men are fair game; they are such thumby, blundering creatures, and we can confuse them so."

   • 1904, H.G. Wells, The Food of the Gods and How It Came to Earth, Book I, Chapter 1 [2]

     […] he was propounding an improvement of Professor Armstrong's Heuristic method, whereby at the cost of three or four hundred pounds' worth of apparatus, a total neglect of all other studies and the undivided attention of a teacher of exceptional gifts, an average child might with a peculiar sort of thumby thoroughness learn in the course of ten or twelve years almost as much chemistry as one could get in one of those objectionable shilling text-books that were then so common….

   • 1938, Xavier Herbert, Capricornia, New York: D. Appleton-Century, 1943, Chapter IX, p. 147-8, [3]

     The box was set down, the stiff buckles of its mildewed straps tackled by a dozen thumby hands, the lid hurled back.

   • 1983, Richard Schickel, Cary Grant: A Celebration, New York: Hachette, 2009, Chapter 1, [4]

     For as long as we have known him—and for most of us that has been for the lengths of our lifetimes—he has been the object of, and inspiration for, a delight so innocent and perfect that the attempt to analyse its sources seems an act of ingratitude, a laying on of thumby hands that will inevitably bollix the job.

   • 2006, Robert Schmuhl, In So Many Words: Arguments and Adventures, University of Notre Dame Press, p.160, [5]

     Some people are handy, but I am (no other word fits) thumby.

     The handy learn to master each moder machine as soon as it hits the market. The thumby never graduate beyond the self-service island at the gas station.

   • 2015, Julie Lawson, A Ribbon of Shining Steel: The Railway Diary of Kate Cameron, Yale, British Columbia, 1882, Dear Canada series, Scholastic Canada, [6]

     Rachel was all thumbs when it came to embroidery, even thumbier than me.

2. Dirtied by thumb marks
   • 1914, H.G. Wells, Social Forces in England and America, New York & London: Harper & Bros., "The Philosopher's Public Library," p. 203, [7]

     He would distinguish, too, between a library and a news-room, and would find no great attraction in the prospect of supplying the national youth with free but thumby copies of the sixpenny magazines.

English

Alternative forms

• thum, thume, thumbe (all obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English thombe, thoume, thoumbe, from Old English þ?ma, from Proto-Germanic *þ?mô (compare West Frisian tomme, Dutch duim, Low German Dumen, German Daumen, Danish tomme, Swedish tumme), from Proto-Indo-European *t?m- (“to grow”) (compare Welsh tyfu (“to grow”), Latin tum?re (“to swell”), Lithuanian tum?ti (“to thicken, clot”), Ancient Greek ?????? (túmbos, “burial mound”), Avestan ????????????????? (am?t, “strong”), Sanskrit ????? (túmra, “strong, thick”)). The parasitic ?b has existed since the late 13th century.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??m/
• Rhymes: -?m

Noun

thumb (plural thumbs)

1. The short thick digit of the hand that for humans has the most mobility and can be made to oppose (moved to touch) all of the other fingers.
2. (graphical user interface) The part of a slider that may be moved linearly along the slider.

3. (colloquial, Internet) A thumbnail picture.
   • 2001, "Gary", Wanna See Porn? Take a Look At These (Free Expandable Thumbs) - CLICK HERE (on newsgroup alt.sex.services)

Synonyms

• (digit): pollex, digit I, first digit (anatomy) ; thumby (colloquial)

Hypernyms

• (digit): digit, finger

Hyponyms

• (digit): opposable thumb

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

thumb (third-person singular simple present thumbs, present participle thumbing, simple past and past participle thumbed)

1. (transitive) To touch or cover with the thumb.

2. (transitive, with through) To turn the pages of (a book) in order to read it cursorily.

3. (travel) To hitchhike
   • 1969, Kris Kristofferson and Fred Foster, "Me and Bobby McGee":

     Bobby thumbed a diesel down, just before it rained.

   • 1980, Kye Fleming and Dennis Morgan, "Smoky Mountain Rain":

     Thumbed a diesel down, outside a cafe.

4. To soil or wear with the thumb or the fingers; to soil, or wear out, by frequent handling.
5. To manipulate (an object) with the thumb; especially, to pull back the hammer or open the cylinder of a revolver.
6. To fire (a single action revolver) quickly by pulling the hammer while keeping the trigger depressed.
   • 2011, by Hans-Christian Vortisch, GURPS Tactical Shooting, pg 14

     To thumb a single-action revolver, hold down the trigger and use the thumb on the same hand to fire the gun by manipulating the hammer.

Synonyms

• (to turn pages): browse, leaf, page, peruse

Derived terms

Related terms

• (firing a single action revolver via hammer flicks while trigger is held down) fanning (using opposite hand instead of thumb)

Translations

References

Albanian

Alternative forms

• thumbi, thump

Etymology

From *thon (“(finger)nail”) (modern thua). More at thua.

Noun

thumb m (indefinite plural thumba)

1. stinger (of a bee)
2. thorn, prick
3. bell clapper, tongue (of bell)
4. tack, thumbtack, shoe tack (spike)
5. point of arrowhead, spiked tip of a goad or prod

Derived terms

• thumbull

Middle English

Alternative forms

• þumb

Noun

thumb (plural thumbes)

1. Alternative form of þombe (“thumb”)