- skip - Brewer’s

Fingers

.

The old names for the fingers are:—

Thumb (Anglo-Saxon thuma).

Towcher (the finger that touches), foreman, or pointer. This was called by the Anglo-Saxons the scite-finger, i.e. the shooting finger.

Long-man or long finger.

Lech-man or ring-finger. The former means “medical finger,” and the latter is a Roman expression, “digitus annulaʹris.” Called by the Anglo-Saxons the gold-finger.

Little-man or little finger. Called by the Anglo-Saxons the eár-finger.

Fingers. Ben Jonson says—

“The thumb, in chiromancy, we give to Venus;

The fore-finger to Jove; the midst to Saturn;

The ring to Sol; the least to Mercury


Alchemist, i. 2.

His fingers are all thumbs. Said of a person awkward in the use of his hands. Ce soni les deux doigts de la main.

 

previous entry · index · next entry

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.

previous entry · index · next entry

Fine as Fivepence
Fine-ear
Finetor
Fingal
Fingal’s Cave
Finger. (Anglo-Saxon, finger)
Finger and Glove
Finger in the Pie
Finger Benediction
Finger-stall
Fingers
Fingers before Forks
Fingers Ends
Fingered
Fingle-fangle (A)
Finished to the Finger-nail
Finny Tribe
Finsbury (London)
Fion
Fir-cone
Fir-tree (The)

Linking here:

Wedding Finger