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five-finger

[fahyv-fing-ger]
noun
  1. any of certain species of potentilla having leaves of five leaflets, as Potentilla canadensis.
  2. Virginia creeper.
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Origin of five-finger

before 1000; Middle English; Old English fīffingre
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for five-finger

Historical Examples

  • It ran up and down about six octaves, to the tune of a five-finger exercise.

    Cupid's Middleman

    Edward B. Lent

  • To have the five-finger exercises of his irresistibility played on one.

    Balloons

    Elizabeth Bibesco

  • He may have an intuition of this, for he says quietly, "Now play me a scale and a five-finger exercise."

  • The Five-finger (Asterias rubens, L.) is a very numerous species on our coast and very destructive.

  • "The only fortune we shall ever have will come from five-finger land," laughed Hal good-naturedly.

British Dictionary definitions for five-finger

five-finger

noun
  1. any of various plants having five-petalled flowers or five lobed leaves, such as cinquefoil and Virginia creeper
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012