By rule of thumb: to do any thing by dint of practice. To kiss one's thumb instead of the book; a vulgar expedient to avoid perjury in taking a false oath.
·vt To handle awkwardly. II. Thumb ·vt To play with the thumbs, or with the thumbs and fingers; as,...
Webster's Dictionary of the English Language
·noun A very diminutive person. II. Hop-thumb ·noun ·see Hop-o'-my-thumb. ...
·- An annual weed (Polygonum Persicaria), having a lanceolate leaf with a dark spot in the middle. ...
·noun A name given to several species of plants of the genus Polygonum, having angular stems beset w...
Done to a cow's thumb; done exactly. ...
Dictionary of The Vulgar Tongue by Francis Grose
A dwarf, a little hop-o'my-thumb. ...
A fresh-water fish, the Cottus cataphractus. ...
The Sailor's Word-Book
In shape resembling a thumb. They arrest the topsail-reef-earings from slipping, and are also lashed...
That rule suggested by a practical rather than a scientific knowledge. In common matters it means to...
·noun ·Alt. of Hop-thumb. ...
A diminutive person, man or woman. She was such a-hop-o-my thumb, that a pigeon, sitting on her shou...