Thumby

//ˈθʌmi// adj, noun, slang

adj, noun, slang ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A little thumb; diminutive term for thumb. slang
Adjective
  1. 1
    Clumsy, awkward, maladroit, not dextrous, all thumbs.

    ""Well, I don't tease anybody but the men. I don't tease father or mother or you,—but men are fair game; they are such thumby, blundering creatures, and we can confuse them so.""

  2. 2
    Dirtied by thumb marks.

    "He would distinguish, too, between a library and a news-room, and would find no great attraction in the prospect of supplying the national youth with free but thumby copies of the sixpenny magazines."

Synonyms

All synonyms
pollexpollexthumbthumb

Example

More examples

""Well, I don't tease anybody but the men. I don't tease father or mother or you,—but men are fair game; they are such thumby, blundering creatures, and we can confuse them so.""

Etymology

Etymology 1

From thumb + -y/-ie (diminutive suffix).

Etymology 2

From thumb + -y.

Related phrases

all thumbs

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