Forms: 1 finger, 3 fenger, fingre, finker, 3–4 south. ving(e)re, 3, 7 finguer, 4–5 fyngir, -yr, fin-, fyngur, fingere, fyngre, 4–6 fynger, 6 fin-, fyngar, 3– finger. [Com. Teutonic. OE. and OFris. finger, OS. fingar (Du. vinger), OHG. fingar (MUG. vinger, Ger. finger), ON. fingr (Sw., Da., finger), Goth. figgrs:—OTeut. *fingro-z.
The pre-Teut. antecedent is uncertain; of various forms that are phonologically possible the most likely, on the ground of meaning, is *penqrós, related to *penqe FIVE.]
I. 1. One of the five terminal members of the hand; in a restricted sense, one of the four excluding the thumb. In this latter sense, the fingers are commonly numbered first to fourth, starting from that next the thumb. Also, fore-finger, index-finger, the first; middle finger († fool’s finger), the second; ring-finger (annular, † leech-, † medical, † physic-finger), the third; little finger (ear-finger), the fourth.
c. 950. Lindisfarne Gospels, Matt. xxiii. 4. Mið fynger … hiora nallas ða [byrðenna hefiȝa] ymbcerræ.
c. 1050. Byrhtferth’s Handboc, in Anglia, VIII. 326. Þæt þu cume to þæs læstan fingres nægle.
c. 1175. Lamb. Hom., 13. Þas .x. bebode þe godalmihti seolf idihte and awrat mid is aȝene fingres and moyses bitahte.
c. 1290. S. Eng. Leg., I. 309/320. Þeos fif fingres þe deuel hath.
1362. Langl., P. Pl., A. II. 11. Alle hir Fyue Fyngres · weore frettet with Rynges.
c. 1400. Lanfranc’s Cirurg., 158. Bitwene þe litil fyngir and þe leche fiyngir.
14[?]. Camb. MS., Ff. V. 48, leaf 82. (Cath. Angl., 131/2).
| The fifte fynger is the thowmbe, and hit has most myȝt, | |
| And fastest haldes of olle the tother, forthi men calles hit riȝt. |
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 34 b. Caused … a meruaylous swete sauour to respyre and smell aboute his fyngers.
1549. Bk. Com. Prayer, Matrimony. And the priest taking the ring shall deliuer it vnto the man: to put it vpon the fowerth finger of the womans left hande.
1611. Cotgr., Le doigt sale, the middle finger, which we (after the Latines) call the fooles finger.
1621. Molle, Camerar. Liv. Libr., V. ii. 321. With his fourth finger called the Ring-finger, or Physicke-finger he stayed a cart drawn with horses, and drew it backward.
1653. Urquhart, Rabelais, I. viii. Upon the medical finger of the same hand, he had a ring made of four metals together, of the strongest fashion that ever was seen.
1707. Floyer, Physic. Pulse-Watch, 229. They lay their four Fingers along the Artery, and when they have press’d the Artery strongly, and by degrees, they raise them again by degrees, till the Blood recovers its Course.
1794. Cowper, Letter to W. Hayley, 5 Jan. I sit too at the window for light’s sake, where I am so cold, that my pen slips out of my fingers.
1804. Med. Jrnl., XII. 24. Between the rectum and the transverse arch, there were several contractions, some of them so small as only to admit the passage of the little finger.
1819. Shelley, Cenci, III. i. 83.
| Unlock those pallid hands whose fingers twine | |
| With one another. |
1861. Hulme, trans. Moquin-Tandon, I. ii. 4. The fingers are 5 in number in each hand; they are named thumb, index, middle, ring, and little finger, or in their numerical order, passing from without inwards; each has three phalanges, except the thumb, which has only two.
b. Little finger: used to signify the smallest member of the body.
1611. Bible, 2 Chron. x. 10. My litle [1382, Wyclif, lest] finger shall be thicker then my father’s loynes.
1670. Ray, Prov., 175. He hath more in ’s little finger, then thou in thy whole body.
1736. Ramsay, Scot. Prov., xiv. 34. He has mair wit in his little finger than ye have in a’ your bouk.
2. transf. and fig.
1612. Bacon, Ess., Judicature (Arb.), 458. An ancient Clearke, skilfull in presidents, wary in proceedings, and understanding in the businesse of the Court, is an excellent finger of a Court, and doth many times point the way to the judge himselfe.
a. 1661. Fuller, Worthies (1840) III. 216. The least finger thereof [body of lies] finding credit could prove heavy enough to crush any innocence with posterity.
1827. Pollok, Course T., VII. 331.
| All cities fell, and every work of man, | |
| And gave their portion forth of human dust, | |
| Touch’d by the mortal finger of decay. |
1814. Wordsw., Excurs., vi. 19.
| And O, ye swelling hills, and spacious plains! | |
| Besprent from shore to shore with steeple-towers, | |
| And spires whose ‘silent finger points to heaven.’ |
1862. B. Taylor, Poet’s Jrnl., III. 112.
| Therewith he read: the fingers of the rain | |
| In light staccatos on the window played, | |
| Mixed with the flame’s contented hum, and made | |
| Low harmonies to suit the varied strain. |
1891. B. Harte, A First Family of Tasajara, II. i. 26–7. She unconsciously halted before a dim and pillared wood and a vast and heathless opening on whose mute brown lips Nature seemed to have laid the finger of silence.
b. Viewed as ‘the instrument of work’ (J.); esp. (after Heb. use) as attributed to God.
c. 825. Vesp. Psalter, viii. 4. Ic ȝesie beofenas werc fingra Ȝinra.
a. 1340. Hampole, Psalter, viii. 4. I sall see þi heuens werkes of þi fyngirs.
1577. B. Googe, Heresbach’s Husb. (1586), I. 5 b. All things bandled with honest and vertuous fyngers prosper the better.
1585. Abp. Sandys, Serm. (1841), 288. He cast out devils by the finger of God.
1611. Bible, Ex. viii. 19. Then the Magicians said vnto Pharaoh; This is the finger of God. And Pharaohs heart was hardned, and he hearkened not vnto them, as the LORD had said.
1645. Waller, Epist. Vandike, 18.
| Foole, that forget’st her stubborne looke, | |
| This softnesse from thy finger tooke. |
1727. De Foe, A System of Magic, I. iii. (1840), 77. What they did by their sorcery and enchantments, was not done by the finger of God.
3. Phrases: a. † To bring up on the finger: = ‘to bring up (young animals) by hand’; see HAND. † To have most fingers: to be in the greatest need. To lay or put a finger upon (a person): to ‘touch,’ meddle with however slightly. To lay or put one’s finger upon: to indicate with precision. To look through the or one’s fingers (at, upon): to take no heed, pretend not to see; also, to see indistinctly. To put († set) one’s finger in one’s eye: see EYE sb. 2 c. With one’s finger in one’s mouth: (a) helplessly inactive; (b) with nothing accomplished, ‘looking foolish.’ † To speak at one’s fingers of: to speak off-hand about. To stir a finger: to make the least effort. To turn or twist (a person) round one’s (little) finger: to make subservient to one’s will or caprice.
1549. Latimer, 4th Serm. bef. Edw. VI. (Arb.), 105. If the kynge and hys councel should suffer euil Iudges of this realme to take bribes, to defeate iustice and suffer the great, to ouer go the poore, shoulde loke through his fingers, and wynke at it, should not the kinge be partaker of theyr naughtynes?
1550. Coverdale, Spir. Perle, xx. 193. As thoughe God must forget all hys ryghtuousnes & help by & by euerre blasphemous wretche, and loke thorowe the fyngers vpon the wicked world. Ibid. (a. 1568), Bk. Death, III. v. (1579), 263. Many men and women which in tymes past haue set finger in the eye, knocked vpon ther brests, pulled the heer out of their own heades, ranne agaynst the wall, disfigured their whole bodyes, and horribly howled for ye dead.
1579. Gosson, The Schoole of Abuse (Arb.), 24. My onely endeuour shalbe to show you that in a rough cast, which I see in a cloude, loking through my fingers.
1607. Topsell, Four-f. Beasts, Pref. He was an vnskilfull Deuine and not apt to teach, which could not at his fingers end speake of these things.
1607. Markham, Cavelarice, II. 109. Those that neuer sucke their dams, but vpon their first foaling are put vp into a house, and brought vp vpon the finger.
1649. Cromwell, Lett., 14 Nov. This Business of Munster will empty your Treasury: therefore you have need to hasten our money allotted us; lest you put us to stand with our fingers in our mouths!
1677. Yarranton, Eng. Improv., 171. It is we poor Men that have most Fingers.
1854. H. Miller, Sch. & Schm. (1858), 338. I, stubbornly battling, like Harry of the Wynd, ‘for my own hand,’ would not stir a finger in assertion of the alleged rights of fellows who had no respect for the rights which were indisputably mine.
1855. Motley, Dutch Rep., V. iii. (1866), 698. Margaret did not inform him that she had already turned that functionary round her finger, but she urged Lalain and his wife to seduce him from his allegiance, if possible.
1865. R. S. Hawker, Prose Wks. (1893), 41. The old man used to say he wished he’d let Coppinger lie where he was in the waves, and never laid a finger on him to save his life.
1874. in Spectator (1891), 28 March, 443/2. He returned to Ireland with his finger in his mouth.
1889. C. Smith, The Repentance of Paul Wentworth, III. 236–7. Ill, not of any definite complaint on which a physician could have put his finger, but with that utter prostration of mind and body which so ofen follows a long period of unnatural tension suddenly terminated by a great shock.
1894. Doyle, Sherlock Holmes, 120. Ah, there you lay your finger upon the one point which we shall probably never be able to clear up.
b. with reference to the capacity or condition of the fingers. † To have a fine finger: to be apt at ‘fingering’ bribes. † To have fingers made of lime-twigs: to be thievish. My fingers itch: I am eager or impatient. † Each finger is a thumb; his fingers are all thumbs: he is extremely clumsy. With a wet finger: with the utmost ease.
1542. Udall, Apophth., To the Reader. Whereby to the name of any persone, or to any good matter in the booke conteined, readie waie & recourse maie with a weate finger easily be found out.
1546. J. Heywood, Prov. (1562), G iij b.
| And as for gaine is deade, and layde in tumbe, | |
| Whan he should get ought, eche fynger is a thumbe. |
1549. Latimer, 5th Serm. bef Edw. VI. (Arb.), 151. Beware of pytch, you iudges of the worlde, brybes wyl make you peruert iustice. Why you wil say. We touche none. No mary. But my Mystres your wyfe hath a fyne fynger she toucheth it for you.
1573. G. Harvey, Letter-bk. (Camden), 10. I never yit tooke uppon me the defenc of ani quæstion which I culd not shew with a wet fingar out of sum excellent late writer or other.
1596. Harington, Metam. Ajax (1814), 65. A certain gentleman that had his fingers made of lime twigs, stole a pice of plate from Claudius one day at a banquet.
1600. Holland, Livy, XXXVIII. xli. (1609), 1009. They had lesse store of pillage and bootie with them to set their … fingers on itching.
1754. Foote, Knights, I. Wks. 1799, I. 69. If Dame Winifred were here she’d make them all out with a wet finger.
1796. Nelson, in Nicolas, Disp., II. 280. I thought it most proper not to take him (although I own my fingers itched for it).
1861. Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxf., vii. (1889), 59. It makes one’s fingers itch to think of it.
c. with reference to ‘taking part in,’ ‘interference’ or ‘meddling.’ To burn one’s fingers: see BURN v. 14, 14 b; so to put one’s finger in the fire, † in a hole. To put or dip one’s finger(s in: to meddle in (a matter). To have a finger in: to have something to do with; to take some part in (a business); so to have a finger in the pie.
1546. J. Heywood, Prov. (1562), F iv.
| It were a foly for mee, | |
| To put my hande betweene the barke and the tree. | |
| Or to put my finger to far in the fyre, | |
| Betweene you, and lay my credence in the myre. | |
| Ibid., H ij b. | |
| But me thinkth your counsell weith in the whole, | |
| To make me put my fynger in a hole. |
1591. Lambarde, Archeion (1635), 83. Whatsoever other Commissioners … will dip their owne fingers in the Suits.
1600. Abp. Abbot, An Exposition upon the Prophet Jonah (1613), 402. The high Priest had a finger, both in the trumpet and the fast.
1656. B. Harris, trans. Parival’s The History of This Iron Age, 76. Lusatia, depending upon the Kingdom of Bohemia, was the allyance, and must needs, forsooth, have her finger in the Pye.
1672. R. Wild, Declar. Lib. Consc., 10. None … durst begin, for fear they should burn their Fingers.
1828. Scott, F. M. Perth, vii. Since you will needs put your fingers in the fire, truth must be spoken.
1861. G. G. Perry, Hist. Ch. Eng., I. vi. 258. The King [James] … had a finger … in all the disputes in Europe.
1886. Miss Tytler, Buried Diamonds, xii. Susie Crabtree, who liked to have a finger in every pie, contrived to look in on these evening classes at Kershaw.
d. with reference to grasping or holding. In one’s fingers: in one’s grasp or power. To let (a thing or person) slip through one’s fingers: to let go one’s hold of (lit. and fig.). † Out of (a person’s) fingers: out of his clutches. † To hang long betwixt the fingers: to be long in hand.
1623. Bingham, Xenophon, 139. If, quoth he, we loue our selues, let vs be gone out of their fingers, and getting on Hors-backe they spurred to their Campe.
c. 1645. Howell, Lett. (1655), I. v. 216. I am one of them, who value not a curtesie that hangs long betwixt the fingers.
e. (For phrases referring to the ‘fingers’ ends,’ see FINGER-END.) At one’s finger(s’) tips = ‘at one’s finger-ends.’
1870. H. P. Spofford, A Pilot’s Wife, in Harper’s Mag., XLI. Nov., 864/1. Whatever can be gained by the knowledge of men and of the round earth and sea and sky, the best learning that the world affords, my Bert has at his fingers’ tips.
4. † a. One of the divisions of the foot in reptiles. b. One of the articulations of a bat’s wing.
1607. Topsell, Serpents (1653), 738. The fingers of their [Lizards’] feet were very small, being five in number. Ibid. (1608), 794. They [Tortoises] have four legs … every foot having five fingers or divisions.
1626. Bacon, Sylva, § 360. On each Foot he [the Chameleon] hath fiue Fingers; three on the Outside, and two on the Inside.
1883. G. Allen, A Naturalist’s Year, in Knowl., 22 June, 368/1. Between these fingers, and from them to the hind legs, stretches the membrane by means of which the bat flies.
c. ‘One of the two parts forming a chelate or forceps-joint, especially the smaller part, which hinges on the other’ (Cent. Dict.).
5. As a measure. a. The breadth of a finger. Also as a definite measure = 3/4 inch.
c. 1400. Maundev. (Roxb.), xxi. 97. He beres also aboute his nekk a ruby, fyne and gude and orient, þe whilke es nere a fote lang and v. fyngers on brede.
1561. Eden, Arte Nauig., I. xviii. 19. Foure graines of barlye make a fynger: foure fingers a hande: foure handes a foote.
1607. Topsell, Four-f. Beasts 19. Their tayle is about three fingers long, hauing very little haire thereon.
1719. London & Wise, The Complete Gard’ner, VII. vii. 167. You must lay a Finger thick of Moss upon those Shelves, which may serve for a Quilt.
c. 1850. Arab. Nts. (Rtldg.), 236. The lady herself had on a rose-coloured girdle at least four fingers in width, upon which were fastened diamonds and pearls of the largest size.
18[?]. Hall, Mexican Law, 79 (Cent. Dict.). A finger, in Mexican law, is the sixteenth part of a foot.
† b. Astron. = DIGIT. Obs.
1561. Eden, Arte Nauig., II. viii. 35. The Astronomers deuide into .xii. equall partes, as well the Diameter of the Sunne as of the Moone. And these partes they call fyngers, punctes or prickes.
c. U.S. slang. A ‘nip’ of liquor. [So F. doigt.]
1888. Newport Jrnl., 25 Feb. (Farmer). ‘Which is correct, spoonfuls or spoons-ful, uncle?’ Denver uncle—‘Um—er—the fact is I don’t know, my boy. In Denver, we don’t use either, we say fingers.’
d. In U.S., the length of a finger (about 41/2 inches).
6. That part of a glove which is made to receive a finger.
1565. Cooper, Thesaurus, Digitalia, thinges couering the fingars … fingers of gloues.
1655. Mrq. Worcester, Cent. Inv., § 89. White Silk knotted in the fingers of a Pair of white Gloves.
1884. Holland, Chester Gloss., Finger-stall, a covering for a sore finger; usually made by cutting off the finger of an old glove.
b. dial. in pl. The foxglove.
1888. Elworthy, W. Somerset Word-bk., Fingers, Foxglove.
7. Skill in fingering (a musical instrument); touch.
1741. Richardson, Pamela (1824), I. cii. 499. Miss L——, who has an admirable finger on the harpsichord, as I have heretofore told you, obliged us with two or three lessons.
1751. R. Paltock, P. Wilkins (1884), I. xxiv. 245. Tommy had the best ear for music I ever knew; and in less than a twelve-month could far oudo me, his instructor, in softness and easiness of finger.
1850. Mrs. F. Trollope, Petticoat Govt., II. v. Her brilliant finger on the piano-forte.
II. Something which resembles a finger.
8. A finger-like projection; esp. such a part either of the fruit, foliage, or root of a plant.
1702. J. Petiver, in Phil. Trans., XXIII. 1264. Having its Spikes or Fingers shorter.
1864. Browning, Jas. Lee’s Wife, III. ii.
| Our fig-tree, that leaned for the saltness, has furled | |
| Her five fingers, | |
| Each leaf like a hand opened wide to the world | |
| Where there lingers | |
| No glint of the gold, Summer sent for her sake. |
1888. Encycl. Brit. (ed. 9), XXIX. 662/2. Some of these [varieties of Turmeric] consist exclusively of the ovate central tubers, technically known as ‘bulbs,’ and others of the somewhat cylindrical lateral tubers, which are distinguished in trade as ‘fingers.’
1894. J. E. Humphrey, Where Bananas Grow, in Pop. Sci. Monthly, XLIV. 497. Since a hand may contain from a dozen to twenty fruits or ‘fingers,’ the number in a marketable bunch may vary from six to twenty dozen.
b. ‘A cartilaginous slender appendage sometimes observable in fishes between the pectoral and ventral fins’ (Crabb, 1823).
9. a. A short and narrow piece of any material. b. Short for finger-biscuit (see 14 b).
1846. Francatelli, Mod. Cook, 397. Fingers, or Naples biscuits.
1865. Athenæum, No. 1989, 803/2. In cold seasons, are wont to entertain their friends with ‘hot elderberry wine and fingers of toast.’
10. Something which performs the office of a finger: the ‘hand’ of a clock (now dial.); in Mech., any small projecting rod, wire, or piece which is brought into contact with an object in order to initiate, direct, or arrest motion, or to separate or divide materials.
1496. in Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot., I. 292. Item … for lokkis, fyngeris, and boltis to the bombartis that wer in Leith.
1784. Cowper, Task, IV. 118.
| While fancy, like the finger of a clock, | |
| Runs the great circuit, and is still at home. |
1855. Mrs. Marsh, Heiress of Haughton, II. iv. One cannot discern the finger moving on the dial plate.
1878. A. Barlow, Weaving, 214. In Webster’s loom a temporary race is formed by means of ‘fingers,’ inserted and withdrawn at proper times, and two shuttles may be thrown separately or simultaneously.
1884. F. J. Britten, The Watch and Clockmakers’ Handbook (1892), 204. A small gold finger, projecting far enough to reach the edge of the smaller roller, is screwed to the lever.
11. Printing. a. One of the grippers which hold the paper in a printing-machine. b. (See quot.)
1869. S. T. Davenport, in Eng. Mech., 31 Dec., 377/2. The aquatinta process, and the prints so obtained were printed in various colours, by making portions of the works, and filling in the separate colours as through a stencil-plate. This was effected by small inking-rubbers, known as thumbs and fingers, and the printing was called thumb-printing.
12. In a reaping machine: (see quots.).
1860. Gard. Chron., 14 July, 658/3. The fingers [of the reaping machine] are of peculiar shape, having sharp points, flat vertical sides against which the corn stalks are firmly pressed by the knives.
1873. Daily News, 13 Aug. By the addition of what are called ‘fingers,’ the ‘reaper’ will cut corn, however much it may be laid.
1875. Ure, Dict. Arts, IV. 18. The knife … consisted of a serrated blade, at first straight, but afterwards waved, and passing through pointed sheaths now called ‘fingers.’
13. With various defining words prefixed, esp. in popular names of plants, as bloody (man’s) finger, dead man’s (men’s) finger(s, devil’s, dog-, fairy-, fox-, king’s, lady’s, lords’ and ladies’, purple fingers: see the different words.
III. attrib. and Comb.
14. General relations. a. simple attrib., as finger-fittip, -game, -joint, -ring, -tip, -work; b. similative, chiefly in the sense of resembling a finger in shape, as finger-biscuit, -muffin, prayer-book, -shell; finger-like, -shaped adjs.; c. objective, as finger-licking, -pointing; finger-squeezing adj.
1846. Francatelli, Mod. Cook, 397. The *finger biscuits must be immediately placed on a baking sheet, and put in the oven (at very moderate heat); about a quarter of an hour will suffice to bake them.
1884. Yates, Recoll., II. vi. On the other side of the newspaper, came a *finger-fillip which made me start.
1871. Tylor, Prim. Cult., I. 68. The ancient Egyptians, as their sculptures show, used to play at some kind of *finger-game.
1838. Dickens, Nich. Nick., iv. Thrust his hands under the stool, and cracked his *finger-joints as if he were snapping all the bones in his hands.
1860. G. H. K., Vac. Tour, 139. There is no patting and caressing or good-dogging, no trying to wheedle or flatter, or assumption of superiority on his part, or cringing and *finger-licking on that of colly, but a real strong male friendship between them.
1776. Withering, Brit. Plants (1796), III. 735. Outer scales of the calyx with *finger-like divisions; inner ones fringed at the edge.
1860. Tyndall, Glac., I. ii. 20. The lower glacier, cleft by its fissures into finger-like ridges, is typified by the hand.
1842. C. Whitehead, R. Savage (1845), II. ix. 294. There was my devilish mother in a side-box, gay and giggling, *finger-pointing, and expounding into the ear of the smirking and self-satisfied Sinclair.
1860. Emerson, Cond. Life, Power, 44. Their instincts are a finger-pointing of Providence, always turned toward real benefit.
1889. (title) The *Finger Prayer Book.
1535. Coverdale, Esther viii. 2. The kynge put of his *fynger rynge, which he had taken from Aman, & gaue it vnto Mardocheus.
1879. Maclear, Celts, ii. 13. ‘They wear,’ writes Diodorus Siculus, ‘bracelets and armlets, and round their necks thick rings, all of gold, and costly finger-rings, and even golden corselets; they have dyed tunics, flowered with colours of every kind, and striped cloaks fastened with a brooch, and divided into numerous many-coloured squares.’
1857. J. G. Wood, Com. Obj. Sea Shore, vi. 116. Alcyonium digitatum, or the *Finger-shaped Alcyonium.
1770. Jenner, Placid Man, II. 92–3. As I do not much believe in Pythagoras’s transmigration scheme, I cannot wish thee a post-horse, Jere; but for one cold, bleak *finger-squeezing night, I do wish thou wast a post-boy; we should then hear whether the wonder would not be, that any body could think of travelling post.
1842. Tennyson, Launcelot & Q. Guin.
| She look’d so lovely, as she sway’d | |
| The rein with dainty *finger-tips. |
1883. E. Pennell-Elmhirst, The Cream of Leicestershire, 314. There was a bite at one’s fingertips and a pinch at one’s toes, that ever betokens a scent.
1849. Rock, Ch. of Fathers, III. x. 354. In some instances, just over the shrine itself, was cast a large rich pall of silk, beautifully embroidered with gold and starred with jewels, the gift—perhaps, too, the finger-work—of some queen or high-born lady.
15. Special comb.: as finger-alphabet, an alphabet consisting of certain dispositions of the fingers as a means of communication between the deaf and dumb; a deaf and dumb alphabet; finger-bar, the bar that carries the fingers of a reaping machine (sense 12); finger-board, (a) ‘the flat or slightly rounded piece of wood attached to the neck of instruments of the violin and guitar class, on to which the strings are pressed when stopped by the fingers’ (Stainer & Barrett); (b) a key-board, manual; finger-bowl = finger-glass; finger-breadth (also finger’s-breadth) the width of a finger used as a measure; finger-brush (see quot.); finger-cold a. dial., cold enough to benumb the fingers; finger-coral, a millepore (Millepora alcicornis); finger-counting, calculation by means of the fingers; finger-cymbals (see quot.); finger-director, ‘a metallic cylinder tapering towards the extremity, and open in front; used in the rectangular operation of lithotomy’ (Syd. Soc. Lex., 1884); finger-fed a. Sc., ‘delicately brought up, pampered’ (Jam.); finger-fern, the name of a kind of Spleenwort (Asplenium Ceterach); finger-fish, the star-fish; cf. five fingers; finger-flower, the fox-glove (Digitalis purpurea); finger-glass, a glass vessel to hold water, for rinsing the fingers after dessert; finger-grass, grass of the genus Digitaria (N.O. Gramineæ); Red finger-grass, Digitaria sanguinalis; finger-grip (see quot.); finger-guard, the quillons of a sword, recurved towards the pommel as a protection to the fingers; finger-hole, one of a series of holes in a wind-instrument, which are opened and closed by the fingers in playing; finger-language, language expressed upon the fingers by means of the finger-alphabet; finger-length, the length of a finger used as a measure; † finger-loping (see quot.); finger-mark, the mark left upon a surface where the finger has touched it; finger-mark v., trans. to mark with a (dirty) finger (also in quasi-passive sense); hence finger-marked ppl. adj.; finger-mirror, a dentist’s mouth-mirror fitted with a clasp or attachment to the finger; finger-nut (cf. finger-screw); finger-orchis (see quot.); finger-parted a. Bot., divided into lobes more or less resembling the fingers of the hand; finger-passage Mus., a passage suited to the study and practice of fingering; finger-piece, a piece actuated by the finger; finger-plate, a plate of metal or porcelain fixed on either side of a door above and below the handle to prevent finger-marks; † finger-plum, a kind of plum; finger-print = finger-mark, also fig.; finger-puff (Hair-dressing), ‘a long and slender puff, often made by rolling the hair over a finger’ (Cent. Dict.); finger-reading, a method of reading, practised by the blind, by passing the fingers over raised letters; finger-root = finger-flower; fingers-and-thumbs, a popular name for Lotus corniculatus; fingers-and-toes (a) = prec.; (b) = ANBURY 2 (also finger-and-toe); finger-screw, one made with wings so that it may be turned by the fingers; a thumb-screw; † finger-shade, the action of concealing the mouth with the fingers; finger-shield (see quot.); finger-smith slang, (a) a midwife; (b) a pickpocket; finger-snap, a snap of the fingers; whence finger-snapping; finger-speech = finger-language; finger-sponge, a sponge with finger-shaped lobes or branches; finger-steel (see quot.); finger-stocks (see quot.); finger-talk = finger-language; so finger-talking; finger-tray, † finger-watch (see quots.). Also FINGER-END, -POST, -STALL, -STONE.
1751. Smollett, Per. Pic. (1779), III. lxxxiii. 285. [She] asked, by the help of the *finger-alphabet.
1865. E. B. Tylor, Researches into the Early History of Mankind, ii. 17. They [deaf-mutes] learn to read and write, to spell out sentences with the finger-alphabet, and to understand words so spelt by others.
1893. Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc., Dec., 710. When the open furrow was central between these points, the *finger-bar was necessarily carried higher.
a. 1672. Wood, Life (Oxf. Hist. Soc.), I. 257. He then saw him run up his fingers to the end of the *finger-board of the violin, and run them back insensibly, and all with alacrity and in very good tune, which he nor any in England saw the like before.
1879. Stainer, Music of Bible, 15. In the guitar the finger-board forms a back or strip of wood behind the strings for their whole length.
1864. Worcester, *Finger-bowl.
1884. Harper’s Mag., LXIX. July, 309/1. The offenders in the box were probably inhabitants of some frontier village where guests at the taverns slam the doors, and help themselves to butter at the common table with their own knives, and giggle in church, and wear diamonds at breakfast, and are unused to finger-bowls.
1594. Blundevil, Exerc., III. II. vi. (ed. 7), 382. As well amongest the auntient men, as amongest them of latter dayes, foure barley kernels couched close together side by side, and not end long, are saide to make a *finger breadth.
1656. B. Harris, trans. Parival’s The History of This Iron Age, 179. Spain, was indeed within her fingers breadth of destruction, by the revolts, which are yet in durance, and which, it was believed, would make her loose the Low-Countries, and her States in Italy.
1721–1800. Bailey, Fingers-breadth, a Measure of two Barley Corn’s Length, or 4 laid side to side.
1817. Coleridge, Biog. Lit., 205. Of the whole wide atmosphere, it does not desire a single finger-breadth more than what is necessary for its sails to turn round in.
1885. Crane, Bookbinding, x. 87. This [the *‘finger-brush’] is a brush about the size of a shaving-brush, of stiff hairs cut square at the ends. The brush, being dipped in the colour, is drawn across the fingers, so as to jerk the colour off in spots.
1862. Thoreau, Excursions (1863), 302. It is *finger-cold as I come home, and my hands find their way to my pocket.
1887. Kent Gloss., ‘’Twas downright finger-cold first thing this marning.’
1884. Gow, A Short History of Greek Mathematics, § 8. They may have adopted the reverse order, from thumb to little finger, as many savages do and as in fact the Greeks and Romans did with that later and more complicated system of *finger-counting which we find in use in the first century of our era.
1888. Stainer & Barrett, Dict. Mus. Terms, 126. Small cymbals are sometimes attached to the fingers and are hence called *finger-cymbals.
1578. Lyte, Dodoens, III. lxvii. 408. This herbe [Ceterach] is called in English … *Finger ferne.
1621. Burton, Anat. Mel. (1624), 300. For the spleene, maiden-haire, fingerfearne, dodder of thyme, hops, the rind of ashe.
1796. Morse, Amer. Geog., I. 228. Star Fish or *Finger Fish.
1629. Parkinson, Paradisus, xcvii. 383. Some (as thinking it to bee too foolish a name) doe call them [foxgloves] *Finger-flowers, because they are like vnto the fingers of a gloue, the ends cut off.
1831. Brewster, Optics, vii. 71. If we take a piece of blue glass, like that generally used for *finger glasses, and transmit through it a beam of white light, the light will be a fine deep blue.
1874. Knight, Dict. Mech., I. 848/1. *Finger-grip. (Well-boring.) A tool for recovering rods or tools dropped into a bored shaft.
1883. Gresley, Gloss. Coal Mining, Finger Grip, a tool used in boring for gripping the upper ends of the rods.
1879. Stainer, Music of Bible, 96. Four of its [a syrinx’s] tubes have small lateral *finger-holes, which, when closed, lower the pitch a semitone.
1874. Sayce, Compar. Philol., I. 52. The *finger-language of the deaf and dumb.
1857. Mrs. Carlyle, Lett., II. 329. The baby is about three *finger-lengths long; the two nurses nearly six feet each.
1644. Bulwer, Chiron., 109–10. The wagging and impertinent extension of the Fingers in speaking…. Cresollius condemnes this *Finger-loping gesture as very uncomely, and unworthy the discreet Hand of an Orator.
1840. Dickens, Barn. Rudge, ii. Neither did certain dirty *finger-marks upon his face give it any other than an odd and comical expression, through which its natural good humour shone with undiminished lustre.
1889. Daily News, 10 Dec., 7/9. Brilliant, lasting polish. Will not finger mark.
1884. Knight, Dict. Mech., 334/2. *Finger Mirror. A small mouth-mirror attached to a finger clasp; used by dentists.
1597. Gerard, Herball, I. ciii. § 2. 170. Roiall Satyrion or *finger Orchis, is called of the Latines Palma Christi.
1829. Loudon, Encycl. Plants, 17. Lower leaves [of Veronica triphyllos] entire: middle *finger-parted. Ibid., 1099/1. Finger-parted, divided into lobes having a fanciful resemblance to the five fingers of a human hand.
1883. C. H. H. Parry, in Grove, Dict. Mus., III. 583–4. The familiar outlines and the systematic distribution of the principal harmonies afford the most favourable opportunities for simple but useful *finger-passages, for which the great masters have supplied plentiful formulas.
1881. Greener, Gun, 201. This gun is loaded by turning the *finger-piece, which lies in the fore-part of the stock, round to the top of the barrel.
1851. Ord. & Regul. R. Engineers, § 19. 91. Brass Sashes are not to be allowed; nor *Finger Plates, except for one or two rooms in a House.
1879. Cassell’s Techn. Educ., IV. 298/2. Finger plates for doors, and bands for hanging curtains, were frequently of open work, and were sometimes backed by coloured metals to represent enamel.
1577. B. Googe, Heresbach’s Husb., II. 96. The *fynger Plomes … being of the length of a mans fynger.
1884. J. Parker, in Chr. World, 15 May, 360/4. The word ‘dogma’ … seems to me to bear the *finger-prints of the pedant or the priest.
1891. Galton, Identification by Finger-tips, in 19th Cent., XXX. Aug., 304. My own collection of analysed finger-prints now consists of many thousand specimens.
1882. Friend, Devonsh. Planl-n., *Fingers and Thumbs, Lotus corniculatus L., or Cypripedium Calceolus L.
1750. *Fingers-and-toes [see ANBURY 2].
1812. W. Spence (title), Observations on the Disease in Turnips, termed in Holderness ‘Fingers and Toes.’
1875. W. T. Thornton, in Encycl. Brit. (ed. 9), I. 367. The roots present a thickened, palmated appearance, giving rise to the popular name for the disease, ‘fingers and toes.’
1883. Daily News, 18 Sept., 2/5. Stunted growth … and finger-and-toe.
1825. J. Nicholson, Operat. Mechanic, 320. The screw was released from the wheel by unturning the *finger-screw.
1711. Puckle, The Club, 28. Brethren in iniquity [gamesters] using *Finger-shade, Mouth-spirt, or Shoulder-dash.
1882. Caulfeild & Saward, Dict. Needlework, *Finger Shield.—A silver appliance made to fit the first finger of the left hand, on which materials are laid and held by the thumb, in Plain Sewing…. It is employed to protect the finger from the needle when much hard sewing has to be done, or the finger has been accidentally hurt.
1812. J. H. Vaux, Flash Dict., *Fingersmith, a midwife.
1884. Good Words, XXV. June, 401/1. A couple of ‘finger-smiths’—pickpockets engaged in a rather warm discussion as to the best ways and means of reaching a certain surburban race meeting.
1821. Blackw. Mag., IX. 71.
| Thy Tailor paid, for coats of finest nap,— | |
| For which I ne’er receiv’d a *finger-snap? |
1884. Pall Mall G., 8 Nov., 2/2. I do not value Government Reports … at a finger-snap.
1882. Society, 14 Oct., 12/1. The cousin’s song … with a *finger-snapping accompaniment, goes very well.
1858. J. Martineau, Stud. Chr., 37. Not till the powers above had ceased to hold familiar converse with the earth, and in their distance had become deaf and dumb to the common tongue of men, did the mediating priest arise;—needed then to conduct the finger-speech of ceremony, whereby the desire of the creature took shape before the eye of the Creator.
1884. Knight, Dict. Mech., 334/2. *Finger Steel. (Leather.) A steel instrument like a skewer or awl used for restoring the edge of the currier’s knife while in use.
1686. Plot, Staffordsh., 390. *Finger-Stocks; into which the Lord of misrule, used formerly to put the fingers of all such persons as committed misdemeanours.
1656–81. Blount, Glossogr., Dactylogie, *finger-talk, speech made with the fingers.
1843. J. T. Hewlett, College Life, III. xxix. 88. Having been shown the fish, and having had the difficulties of capturing him explained to him in dumb-show and finger-talk, he put a bluebottle on his roach-hook, and pulled out a bleak, or blay.
1855. H. Clarke, Dict., *Finger-talking, conversing by signs with the fingers.
1884. Knight, Dict. Mech., 334/2. *Finger Tray. A small pan attached by a clasp to the finger; used by dentists for carrying amalgam or plastic filling.
a. 1680. Butler, Rem. (1759), II. 393. He [an Hypocrite] is the Devil’s *Finger-Watch, that never goes true, but too fast, or too slow, as he sets him.
a. 1718. Penn, Maxims, Wks. 1726, I. 842. To have religion upon authority, and not upon conviction, is like a finger-watch, to be set forwards or backwards, as he pleases that has it in keeping.
