thimble

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thim·ble

(thĭm′bəl)

1. A hard, usually pitted cup worn for protection on the finger that pushes the needle in sewing.

2. Any of various tubular sockets or sleeves in machinery.

3. Nautical

a. A metal ring fitted in an eye of a sail to prevent chafing.

b. A metal ring around which a rope splice is passed.

[Middle English thimbil, alteration of Old English thȳmel, leather finger covering, from thūma, thumb; see teuə- in Indo-European roots.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

thimble

(ˈθɪmbəl)

1. (Knitting & Sewing) a cap of metal, plastic, etc, used to protect the end of the finger when sewing

2. (Mechanical Engineering) any small metal cap resembling this

3. (Nautical Terms) nautical a loop of metal having a groove at its outer edge for a rope or cable, for lining the inside of an eye

4. (Units) short for thimbleful

[Old English thӯmel thumbstall, from thūma thumb]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

thim•ble

(ˈθɪm bəl)

n.

1. a small cap worn over the fingertip to protect it when pushing a needle through cloth in sewing.

2. a metal ring with a concave groove on the outside, used to line the outside of a ring of rope to prevent chafing.

[before 1000; Middle English thym(b)yl, Old English thȳmel; see thumb, -le]

thim′ble•like`, adj.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

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Noun	1.	thimble - as much as a thimble will hold thimbleful containerful - the quantity that a container will hold
	2.	thimble - a small metal cap to protect the finger while sewing; can be used as a small container cap - something serving as a cover or protection container - any object that can be used to hold things (especially a large metal boxlike object of standardized dimensions that can be loaded from one form of transport to another)

Translations

كُشْتْبان، قِمْع الخِياطَه

náprstek

fingerbøl

Fingerhut

κάλτσα

dedal

dé à coudredoigt de gantchaussette

gyûszû

fingurbjörg

ditale bussola

antpirštis

uzpirkstenis

fingerbøl

náprstok

yüksük

顶针

thimble

[ˈθɪmbl] N

1. (Sew) → dedal m

2. (Naut) → guardacabo m

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

thimble

[ˈθɪmb^əl] n → dé m (à coudre)

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

thimble

n → Fingerhut m

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

thimble

[ˈθɪmbl] n → ditale m

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

thimble

(ˈθimbl) noun

a kind of metal or plastic capital to protect the finger and push the needle when sewing.

References in classic literature ?

And then, as to his decoration: headstall, breast-bands, saddle and crupper are lavishly embroidered with beads, and hung with thimbles, hawks' bells, and bunches of ribbons.

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"She will forget her mother in time, and be happy with me," he kept saying to himself, and he hurried her on, giving her thimbles by the way.

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Never were hands more exquisite than hers, and it was a joy to look at them when she threaded her needle or adjusted her gold thimble to her taper middle finger as she sewed away on the little night-drawers or fashioned a bodice or a bib.

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I makes my pipes of old penny ink-bottles, ye see, deary--this is one--and I fits-in a mouthpiece, this way, and I takes my mixter out of this thimble with this little horn spoon; and so I fills, deary.

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Aunt Polly raised him by the usual handle -- his ear -- and cracked his head soundly with her thimble.

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She hit his head a thump with her thimble as we dodged by, and he let on to be whimpering as we struck for the stairs.

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This young man was the nephew of one of the Nob Hill magnates, who run the San Francisco Stock Exchange, much as more humble adventurers, in the corner of some public park at home, may be seen to perform the simple artifice of pea and thimble: for their own profit, that is to say, and the discouragement of public gambling.

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Luckily she was the mistress of a gold thimble, that had been presented to her by her grandmother, as her very last birth-day present.

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Then they all crowded round her once more, while the Dodo solemnly presented the thimble, saying `We beg your acceptance of this elegant thimble'; and, when it had finished this short speech, they all cheered.

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"I shall know when you give it to me," he replied stiffly, and not to hurt his feeling she gave him a thimble.

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"Ay, very glad," said the younger man, who was looking at Maggie's silver thimble and other small matters that had been taken from her pocket.

View in context

And when she come she was hot and red and cross, and couldn't hardly wait for the blessing; and then she went to sluicing out coffee with one hand and cracking the handiest child's head with her thimble with the other, and says: