Tra từ thumb - Từ điển Oxford Advanced Learner 8th

thumb [thumb thumbs thumbed thumbing] noun, verb BrE [θʌm] NAmE [θʌm]
noun
1. the short thick finger at the side of the hand, slightly apart from the other four
• She still sucks her thumb when she's worried.

see also ↑green thumb
2. the part of a glove that covers the thumb
• There's a hole in the thumb.
more at a rule of thumb at ↑rule _n., stand/stick out like a sore thumb at ↑sore _adj., twiddle your thumbs at ↑twiddle _v.

Word Origin:
Old English thūma, of West Germanic origin; related to Dutch duim and German Daumen, from an Indo-European root shared by Latin tumere ‘to swell’. The verb dates from the late 16th cent., first in the sense ‘play (a musical instrument) with the thumbs’.

Example Bank:
•He made a thumbs-up sign through the window to tell us everything was fine.
•He smiled and raised a thumb in greeting.
•I picked up the beetle carefully between finger and thumb.
•I sat there twiddling my thumbs until the manager finally appeared.
•I stuck out a thumb and a car stopped immediately.
Idioms: ↑all thumbs ▪ ↑hold thumbs ▪ ↑thumb your nose at somebody ▪ ↑thumbs up ▪ ↑under somebody's thumb
Derived: ↑thumb through something

verb
1. intransitive, transitive to make a signal with your thumb to passing drivers to ask them to stop and take you somewhere
•+ adv./prep. He had thumbed all across Europe.
• (BrE)~ a lift We managed to thumb a lift with a lorry driver.
• (NAmE)~ a ride We managed to thumb a ride with a truck driver.
2. transitive ~ sth (+ adv./prep.) to touch or move sth with your thumb
•She thumbed off the safety catch of her pistol.
see also ↑well thumbed
Verb forms:

Word Origin:
Old English thūma, of West Germanic origin; related to Dutch duim and German Daumen, from an Indo-European root shared by Latin tumere ‘to swell’. The verb dates from the late 16th cent., first in the sense ‘play (a musical instrument) with the thumbs’.