thimble

American  

[thim-buhl] / ˈθɪm bəl /

noun

thimbles plural

1. a small cap, usually of metal, worn over the fingertip to protect it when pushing a needle through cloth in sewing.

2. Mechanics. any of various similar devices or attachments.

3. Nautical. a metal ring with a concave groove on the outside, used to line the outside of a ring of rope forming an eye.

4. a sleeve of sheet metal passing through the wall of a chimney, for holding the end of a stovepipe or the like.

5. a thimble-shaped printing element with raised characters on the exterior: used in a type of electronic typewriter or computer printer thimbleprinter.

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thimble British  

/ ˈθɪmbəl /

noun

1. a cap of metal, plastic, etc, used to protect the end of the finger when sewing

2. any small metal cap resembling this

3. nautical a loop of metal having a groove at its outer edge for a rope or cable, for lining the inside of an eye

4. short for thimbleful

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• thimblelike
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• thimbles
  plural

Etymology

Origin of thimble

before 1000; Middle English thym ( b ) yl, Old English thȳmel; akin to Old Norse thumall thumb of a glove. See thumb, -le

Explanation

A thimble is a device that protects your fingertips from being pricked by a needle. It's a good idea to use a thimble when you're sewing by hand. When you sew with a needle and thread, you can wear a thimble on whichever finger you tend to use for pushing the needle through the cloth. Most thimbles are made of metal (originally they were made from leather) and fit like a small cup over your fingertip. The word thimble shares a root with the word thumb.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

thimble thimbles

A piece of Fern’s called out societal expectations that a woman “unobtrusively gather up her thimble and, retiring into some out-of-the-way place, gradually scoop out her coffin with it.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 27, 2026

Pixar’s “Wall-E” is mirrored in recent refuse-collecting robots, and wireless ear buds work much like the thimble radios in “Fahrenheit 451.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 14, 2024

Next to that, Charlotte's pudge paranoia is a thimble of that bone broth she forlornly sucks down in her quick weight-loss quest.

From Salon ● Aug. 6, 2023

NIF drew headlines in 2022 when it produced more energy from the thimble than the lasers put in, a milestone relevant to civilian efforts to generate fusion power.

From Science Magazine ● Apr. 20, 2023

Far, far below me, the trash can seemed like a thimble.

From "Fourth Grade Rats" by Jerry Spinelli

It’s fun to do the research, figure out what everything is, because I have all sorts of objects, like fossils and minerals and Avon thimbles from the ’80s and Japanese toys from the ’60s.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 21, 2025

My youngest child and I pluck the red thimbles on summer mornings.

From New York Times ● Mar. 25, 2022

The pasta customarily used to make the beloved Italian soup pasta e fagioli is ditalini, which roughly translates to "little thimbles."

From Salon ● Jan. 12, 2022

They also recorded snap times when fingers were covered in various materials, such as thimbles, latex gloves, or lotion, to study the role of friction.

From Science Magazine ● Nov. 16, 2021

We have all sorts of uses for thimbles.

From "Secrets at Sea" by Richard Peck