Finger
Pronunciation
- GenAm enPR: fÄngʹ-gÉ™r, IPA: /ˈfɪŋɡɚ/
- RP IPA: /ˈfɪŋɡə/
- Rhymes: -ɪŋɡə(ɹ)
- Hyphenation: fin + ger
Origin
From Middle English finger, from Old English finger ("finger"), from Proto-Germanic *fingraz ("finger") (compare West Frisian finger, Low German/German Finger, Dutch vinger, Danish finger), from Proto-Indo-European *pénkʷrós, *penkʷ-ros 'fifth' (compare Old Irish cóicer 'set of five people', Old Armenian հինգեր-որդ (hinger-ord, "fifth")), from *pénkʷe ("five"). More at five.
Full definition of finger
Noun
finger
(plural fingers)- (anatomy) One of the long extremities of the hand, sometimes excluding the thumb.Human hands have five fingers: the thumb, the forefinger (or index finger), the middle finger, the ring finger and the little finger.
- Eleanor Stackhouse Atkinson, , , ,We have five senses and five fingers and five toes. The starfish eats with five fingers.
- , , , 1916:Each finger extended represents one-eighth of a cent. Thus when all four fingers and the thumb are extended, all being spread out from one another, it means five-eighths.
- A piece of food resembling such an extremity.chocolate fingers
- Anything that does work of a finger, such as the pointer of a clock or watch, or a small projecting rod, wire, or piece in a mechanical device which is brought into contact with an object to effect, direct, or restrain a motion.
- (also finger pier) A walkway extending from a dock, an airport terminal, etc, used by passengers to board a waiting ship or aeroplane.
- An amount of liquid, usually alcohol, in a glass, with the depth of a finger's length.Hey buddy, is something bothering ya? Want me to pour you a finger?
- The breadth of a finger, or the fourth part of the hand; a measure of nearly an inch; also, the length of finger, a measure in domestic use in the United States, of about four and a half inches or one eighth of a yard.
- Bishop Wilkinsa piece of steel three fingers thick
- Skill in the use of the fingers, as in playing upon a musical instrument.
- BusbyShe has a good finger.
Derived terms
Verb
- (transitive) To identify or point out. Also put the finger on. To report to or identify for the authorities, rat on, rat out, squeal on, tattle on, turn in, to finger.
- (transitive) To poke or probe with a finger or fingers.
- ShakespeareLet the papers lie;
You would be fingering them to anger me. - 2009, Win Blevins, Dreams Beneath Your Feet, page 135:Feeling tender around the face, she fingered herself gingerly. Yes, it was swollen, very sore around the cheekbones, with dried blood on the outsides of her eye sockets, below her nostrils, and below one ear.
- (transitive) To use the fingers to penetrate and sexually stimulate one's own or another person's vagina or anus; to fingerbang
- 2007, Madeline Bastinado, A Talent for Surrender, page 201:She fingered him, spreading the gel and sliding the tip of her finger inside him.
- 2008, Thomas Wainwright (editor), Erotic Tales, page 56:She smiled, a look of amazement on her face, as if thinking that maybe this was the cock that she had been fantasizing about just now, as she fingered herself to a massive, body-engulfing orgasm.
- (transitive, music) To use specified finger positions in producing notes on a musical instrument.
- (transitive, music) To provide instructions in written music as to which fingers are to be used to produce particular notes or passages.
- (transitive, computing) To query (a user's status) using the Finger protocol.
- 1996, "Yves Bellefeuille", List of useful freeware, comp.archives.msdos.d