a. The part of a handle, etc., intended to receive the thumb; a part of a mechanism operated by pressure of the thumb.
1759. Mountaine, in Phil. Trans., LI. 290. A piece of the deal moulding … adjoining to the brass thumb-piece,… was splintered off.
1868. Report Munitions of War, 63. The breech-block turns over and is secured in position, when closed, by a vertical bolt with a projecting thumb-piece at the side.
1883. Romanes, Ment. Evol. Anim., xx. 359, note. A cat which jumps at a thumb-latch, and while holding on to the curved handle beneath with one foreleg, depresses the thumb-piece with the other.
1894. Proc. Soc. Antiq., 22 Nov., 238. The lid [of a ewer] … has a thumb-piece.
b. (See quot.) dial.
1882. W. Worc. Gloss., Thumb-piece, a piece of bread with cheese or meat, held between the thumb and finger.
1897. Daily News, 5 Nov., 10/7. Eating his dinner, which consisted of a thumb piece of fat pork and bread.
c. A covering for the thumb, as the leathern pad worn by needle-grinders; the thumb of a glove or mitten (= THUMB sb. 2).
1891. in Cent. Dict.
1899. Daily News, 15 July, 7/4. The sleeves of this dress cover nearly half the hand, and can be made with thumb-pieces, like mittens.
