middle finger

[mid-l fing-ger]

noun

1. the finger between the forefinger and the third finger.

2. Slang.,  an obscene gesture of contempt made by pointing this finger upward while folding the other fingers against the palm; the finger.

   The driver honked his horn and got the middle finger from the biker.

Word History and Origins

Origin of middle finger¹

First recorded before 1000; Middle English, Old English

Example Sentences

The women said passersby offered them a mixture of “some middle fingers” and supportive honks as they held signs that read, among other things, “Would your grandma approve?”

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He closes his eyes, takes a deep breath and touches the forefinger and middle finger of his right hand to his lips.

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“There’s always going to be someone who disagrees,” Carson Jorgensen, the chairman of the Utah Republican Party, said airily as lawmakers prepared to give voters their middle finger.

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Only this time, it asserts its environmental consciousness like a middle finger.

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When he was 17, Iommi was working in a sheet metal factory when he lost the tips of his two middle fingers in an industrial accident.

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When To Use

What else does middle finger mean?

Giving someone the middle finger is an offensive gesture in which a person flips up their middle finger in a fist to show contempt or defiance.