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give the finger



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Idioms and Phrases

Make an obscene gesture by closing one's fist and extending one's middle finger upward, generally interpreted as fuck you . For example, Herb has a dangerous habit of giving the finger to motorists who cut in front of him . Although from about 1890 to 1920 this term was used in the sense of “disappoint or snub someone,” that meaning seems to have died out. [Second half of 1900s]

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

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