hop-o'-my-thumb

American  

[hop-uh-mahy-thuhm] / ˈhɒp ə maɪˈθʌm /

noun

1. a very small person, as a dwarf.

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Etymology

Origin of hop-o'-my-thumb

First recorded in 1520–30; noun use of imperative phrase hop on my thumb

Example Sentences

And after vague hop-o'-my-thumb wanderings, he had a disconnected memory of Hugh—a wild, rugged, ragged, bearded Hugh who caught him up fiercely as though he had an ogrish hunger for the feel of little boys.

From Snow-Blind by Burt, Katharine Newlin

The girl must be mad; the hop-o’-my-thumb scoundrel must carry witch-powder!

From Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Volume 1, No. 4, September, 1850 by Various

The kinglet was the least of all,—a sort of "hop-o'-my-thumb" bird.

From The Wit of a Duck and Other Papers by Burroughs, John

That young hop-o'-my-thumb suspects his father has arrived.

From Heralds of Empire Being the Story of One Ramsay Stanhope, Lieutenant to Pierre Radisson in the Northern Fur Trade by Laut, Agnes C. (Agnes Christina)

At the next station we drank large quantities of hot milk, flavored with butter, sugar and cinnamon, and then pushed on, with another chubby hop-o'-my-thumb as guide and driver.

From Northern Travel Summer and Winter Pictures of Sweden, Denmark and Lapland by Taylor, Bayard