What does "thumbikins" mean?

An instrument of torture for compressing the thumb; a thumbkin or thumbscrew.

What is a synonym for "thumbikins"?

Common synonyms include: thumbikin.

Thumbikins

noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1
An instrument of torture for compressing the thumb; a thumbkin or thumbscrew.
"[S]end me that hag hither; she shall avouch what it was that she hath given to the wretch Dryfesdale, or the pilniewinks and thumbikins shall wrench it out of her finger-joints."
2
plural of thumbikin form-of, plural

Synonyms

All synonyms

thumbikin

Example

More examples

"[S]end me that hag hither; she shall avouch what it was that she hath given to the wretch Dryfesdale, or the pilniewinks and thumbikins shall wrench it out of her finger-joints."

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.