Thimble
['θɪmb(ə)l] or ['θɪmbl]
Definition
(noun.) a small metal cap to protect the finger while sewing; can be used as a small container.
(noun.) as much as a thimble will hold.
Checked by Abram--From WordNet
Definition
(n.) A kind of cap or cover, or sometimes a broad ring, for the end of the finger, used in sewing to protect the finger when pushing the needle through the material. It is usually made of metal, and has upon the outer surface numerous small pits to catch the head of the needle.
(n.) Any thimble-shaped appendage or fixure.
(n.) A tubular piece, generally a strut, through which a bolt or pin passes.
(n.) A fixed or movable ring, tube, or lining placed in a hole.
(n.) A tubular cone for expanding a flue; -- called ferrule in England.
(n.) A ring of thin metal formed with a grooved circumference so as to fit within an eye-spice, or the like, and protect it from chafing.
Editor: Maureen
Definition
n. a metal cover for the finger used in sewing.—ns. Thim′ble-case a case for holding a thimble; Thim′bleful as much as a thimble will hold: a small quantity; Thim′ble-rig a sleight-of-hand trick in which the performer conceals or pretends to conceal a pea or small ball under one of three thimble-like cups.—v.i. to cheat by such means.—ns. Thim′ble-rig′ger; Thim′ble-rig′ging.
Editor: Orville
Unserious Contents or Definition
If you use a thimble in your dreams, you will have many others to please besides yourself. If a woman, you will have your own position to make. To lose one, foretells poverty and trouble. To see an old or broken one, denotes that you are about to act unwisely in some momentous affair. To receive or buy a new thimble, portends new associations in which you will find contentment. To dream that you use an open end thimble, but find that it is closed, denotes that you will have trouble, but friends will aid you in escaping its disastrous consequences.
Editor: Omar
Examples
- Her thimble is scarcely fitted on, her needle scarce threaded, when a sudden thought calls her upstairs. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- To keep it nice, child; people must take care of their things, if they ever mean to have anything; and now, Eva, is your thimble put up? Harriet Beecher Stowe. Uncle Tom's Cabin.
- The boring bit is a steel thimble about four inches in length, having two rows of Brazilian black diamonds firmly embedded therein, the edges projecting slightly. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
- She left her sewing and her thimble in the window-seat, and followed her uncle where he led. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- Well, never mind; I'll look your box over,--thimble, wax, two spools, scissors, knife, tape-needle; all right,--put it in here. Harriet Beecher Stowe. Uncle Tom's Cabin.
- A brass thimble, said Mr Carriston, making a discovery, a copper, and three blue beads. Fergus Hume. The Island of Fantasy.
- She gathered up her work, put the embroidery, the scissors, the thimble into her bag. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- There was no magnet, simply a diaphragm and a cylinder of compressed chalk about the size of a thimble. Frank Lewis Dyer. Edison, His Life and Inventions.
- To the wires _q r_ two other wires are soldered so as to project in an opposite direction, and dip into the thimbles _l m_. Edward W. Byrn. The Progress of Invention in the Nineteenth Century.
Editor: Vanessa