finger (fingger)

[ 1. A digit of the fore limb; any one of the terminal or distal members of the hand; in a restricted sense, any digit of the hand except the innermost or thumb. In this restricted sense the fingers are commonly numbered from the forefinger as first to the little finger as fourth, but sometimes the thumb is counted as first. Put not thy fyngerys on thy dysche, Nothyr in flesche, nothir in fysche. Babees Book (E. E. T. S.), p. 18. The Finger on which this Ring [the wedding-ring] is to be worn is the fourth Finger of the left hand, next unto the little finger ; because, by the received Opinion of the Learned and Experienced in Ripping up and Anatomizing Men's Bodies, there is a Vein of Blood which pa eth from that fourth Finger unto the Heart called Vena amoris, Love's Vein. H. Swineburne , quoted in Amer. Anthropology, I. 73. Then he put it [a crown] by again; but to my thinking, he was very loth to lay his fingers off it. Shak ., J. C., i. 2. I come to pluck your berries harsh and crude; And, with forced fingers rude, Shatter your leaves before the mellowing year. Milton , Lycidas, 1. 4. A smaller piece amidst the precious store, Pinch'd close between his finger and his thumb. Cowper , Charity, 1. 477. 2. Something like or likened to a finger, as a ray of a starfish; something resembling or serving the purpose of a finger; an index. Fancy, like the finger of a clock, Runs the great circuit, and is still at home. Cowper, Task, iv. 118. Autumn laying here and there A fiery finger on the leaves. dle finger.-4. In music, execution, especially on a keyed instrument; method of fingering: as, she has a good finger. Mi Wirt, with great deliberation, played the original and beautiful melody.. "What a finger! " cried Mrs. Ponto; and indeed it was a finger, as knotty as a turkey's drumstick, and splaying all over the piano. Thackeray, Book of Snobs, xxv. A finger in the pie, a share in the doing of anything; frequently, officious intermeddling or interference. The devil speed him! no man's pie is freed From his ambitious finger . Shak ., Hen. VIII., i. 1. Annular finger, auricular finger, etc. See the adjectives. Finger of God, power or work of God. The magicians said unto Pharaoh, This is the finger of God. Ex. viii. 19. His fingers are all thumbs, said of one whose fingers are awkward or stiff. - Mechanical finger, in microscopy, a device consisting of a wire, hair, or bristle fixed on a forceps, and used in separating some minute object for examination from a ma of material on a slide. - To burn one's fingers. See burn1. To have a finger in, to be concerned in. To have at one's fingers' ends. See end. To live by one's fingers' ends, to live by mechanical skill or handiwork. How many goodly cities could I reckon up that thrive wholly by trade, where you sands of inhabitants live singular well by their fingers' ends. Burton , Anat. of Mel., Demo crit us to the Reader, p. 55. IMG:content-1343.png:[blocks in formation] Let the papers lie; You would be fingering them, to anger me. Shak., T. G. of V., i. 2. Moore lingered yet two minutes; he bent over Caroline's desk, and glanced at her grammar, he fingered her pen, he lifted her bouquet and played with it. Charlotte Brontë, Shirley, v. There is a sense in which to be always fingering one's motives is a sign rather of an unwholesome preoccupation with self than of the eagerne in disinterested service which helps forward mankind. T. H. Green, Prolegomena to Ethics, § 297. 3. To touch or take thievishly; pilfer; filch; secure by manipulation with the fingers. The king was slily finger'd from the deck. Shak., 3 Hen. VI., v. 1. 4. In music: ( a ) To play, as an instrument requiring the use of individual fingers. You're a fair viol, and your sense the strings, Who, finger'd to make man his lawful music, Would draw heav'n down, and all the gods to hearken. Shak ., Pericles, i. 1. ( b ) To play, as a particular pa age involving a choice among different po ible modes of execution. (c) To indicate upon a piece of music, by means of figures, the mode of execution with the fingers to be used.-5. To do or perform with the fingers, as a delicate piece of work, The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia: Dictionary IMG:content-1345.png:[blocks in formation] IMG:content-1346.png:[blocks in formation] did Pelleas in an utter shame Creep with his shadow thro' the court again, Fingering at his sword-handle. Tennyson, Pelleas and Ettarre. finger-alphabet (fing'ger-alfa-bet), n. Certain positions and motions of the hands and fingers, signifying the common alphabet, used by deaf mutes. See deaf - mute . See dactylorhiza .