thumbs up
Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
thumb/θʌm/
▶noun the short, thick first digit of the hand, set lower and apart from the other four and opposable to them. ▶verb
- 1 press, touch, or indicate with one's thumb.
- 2 turn over (pages) with or as if with one's thumb.
■ (usu. as adj. thumbed) wear or soil (a book's pages) by repeated handling.
- 3 request or obtain (a free ride in a passing vehicle) by signalling with one's thumb.
– phrases
thumb one's nose at informal show disdain or contempt for. [with ref. to the gesture of putting one's thumb on one's nose and spreading the fingers.]
thumbs up (or down) informal an indication of satisfaction or approval (or of rejection or failure). [with ref. to the signal of approval or disapproval used by spectators at a Roman amphitheatre (although the Romans used the symbols in reverse).]
under someone's thumb completely under someone's influence or control.
thumb one's nose at informal show disdain or contempt for. [with ref. to the gesture of putting one's thumb on one's nose and spreading the fingers.]
thumbs up (or down) informal an indication of satisfaction or approval (or of rejection or failure). [with ref. to the signal of approval or disapproval used by spectators at a Roman amphitheatre (although the Romans used the symbols in reverse).]
under someone's thumb completely under someone's influence or control.
– derivatives
thumbed adjective,
thumbless adjective.
thumbed adjective,
thumbless adjective.
– origin OE thūma, of W. Gmc origin.
'thumbs up' also found in these Oxford entries:
