finger
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈfɪŋɡə/
enpr: fĭngʹ-gər
ipa: /ˈfɪŋɡəɹ/
ipa: /ˈfɪŋəɹ/
rhymes: -ɪŋɡə(ɹ)
Forms: form: fingers
form: fingering
form: fingered
form: fingered
Etymology: PIE word
 *pénkʷe
From Middle English fynger, finger, from Old English finger (“finger”), from Proto-West Germanic *fingr, from Proto-Germanic *fingraz (“finger”), from Proto-Indo-European *penkʷrós, from *pénkʷe (“five”). Compare West Frisian finger, Low German/German Finger, Dutch vinger, Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish finger; also Old Armenian հինգեր-որդ (hinger-ord, “fifth”). More at five.
Senses: examples: text: This makes it quite difficult to finger specific gene variants, since any one variant contributes only tiny effects.
ref: 2016, Joseph Henrich, chapter 6, in The Secret of Our Success […] , Princeton: Princeton University Press, →ISBN:
text: I'm rose-tinting my teenage years, for sure, but Twenge isn't the only generational-change researcher to finger the ubiquitous smartphone for contributing to higher rates of teen depression and anxiety.
ref: 2018 January, “Wild Things”, in North and South:
glosses: To identify or point out; to blame for something.
synonyms: word: put the finger on
word: rat on
word: rat out
word: squeal on
word: tattle on
word: turn in
word: bewray
word: blow the whistle
word: clepe
word: denounce
word: dime
word: dob
word: drop a dime
word: drop a dime on someone
word: finger
word: fink
word: fizgig
word: inform
word: inform on
word: grass on
word: grass up
word: lolly up
word: name names
word: nark
word: peach
word: rat on
word: rat out
word: roll on
word: sing
word: snitch
word: snitch up
word: squeak
word: squeal
word: tattle
word: tell
word: tell all
word: tell on
word: tell tales
word: tip off
word: turn in
glosses: To report to or identify for the authorities; to inform on.
examples: text: Goe, get you gone: and let the papers lye: / You would be fingring them, to anger me.
ref: c. 1590–1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Two Gentlemen of Verona”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii]:
text: "They have done a foolish thing," said I, fingering my wineglass.
ref: 1895–1897, H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, The War of the Worlds, London: William Heinemann, published 1898, →OCLC, (please specify the page number(s)):
text: Alladad Khan, left alone, dandled unhandily his child in unfatherly arms. He wanted to finger his moustache, but could not.
ref: 1956, Anthony Burgess, Time for a Tiger (The Malayan Trilogy), published 1972, page 121:
text: 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.
ref: 2009, Win Blevins, Dreams Beneath Your Feet, page 135:
hypernyms: handle#Verb
glosses: To poke, probe, feel, or fondle with a finger or fingers.
examples: text: She fingered him, spreading the gel and sliding the tip of her finger inside him.
ref: 2007, Madeline Bastinado, A Talent for Surrender, page 201:
text: 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.
ref: 2008, Thomas Wainwright, editor, Erotic Tales, page 56:
topics: lifestyle
sex
sexuality
synonyms: fingerbang
fingerfuck
glosses: To use the fingers to penetrate or sexually stimulate one's own or another person's vulva, vagina, or anus.
topics: entertainment
lifestyle
music
glosses: To use specified finger positions in producing notes on a musical instrument.
topics: entertainment
lifestyle
music
glosses: To provide instructions in written music as to which fingers are to be used to produce particular notes or passages.
examples: text: There is also a hot-link to "finger" the guys at id to see what they're working on next (John Carmack, John Cash […]
ref: 1996, Marc Saltzman, Sean McFadden, Internet Games Directory, Lycos Press, →ISBN, page 29:
text: PGP mail welcome (finger me for my key).
ref: 1996, Yves Bellefeuille, “List of useful freeware”, in comp.archives.msdos.d (Usenet):
glosses: To query (a user's status) using the Finger protocol.
examples: text: in the dark / Grop'd I to finde out them; had my desire, / Finger'd their Packet, and in fine, withdrew / To mine owne roome againe,
ref: c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene ii]:
glosses: To steal; to purloin.
glosses: To execute, as any delicate work.
Related terms: artiodactyl
dactyl
dactylography
dactylology
fist
macrodactyly
perissodactyl
prestidigitation
pterodactyl