thumb index

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noun

a series of labeled notches cut along the fore edge of a book, to indicate the divisions or sections.

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Origin of thumb index

First recorded in 1900–05

Words nearby thumb index

thumb a ride, thumb drive, thumber, thumb glass, thumbhole, thumb index, thumbkin, thumb knot, thumbnail, thumbnail sketch, thumbnut

Other definitions for thumb index (2 of 2)

thumb-index

[ thuhm-in-deks ]

/ ˈθʌmˌɪn dɛks /

verb (used with object)

to provide (a book) with a thumb index.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use thumb index in a sentence

A helpful pictorial index provides photographs of the actual objects.
The Best Coffee Table Books of 2014|Robert Birnbaum|December 13, 2014|DAILY BEAST
There is an expanded place-name index with more than 150,000 entries, and separate undersea, Moon, and Mars features.
The Best Coffee Table Books of 2014|Robert Birnbaum|December 13, 2014|DAILY BEAST
He stuck his index finger in the red welt around the spot where bin Laden shot me.
I Shot Bin Laden|Elliot Ackerman|November 16, 2014|DAILY BEAST
And considering his massive music-industry thumb print, that “you oughta know” Jack Antonoff is an understatement.
The Rise of Jack Antonoff, the Taylor Swift Whisperer|Kevin Fallon|November 14, 2014|DAILY BEAST

The country was ranked 144 of 177 nations surveyed by Transparency International in its 2013 graft perception index.
Corruption Eats Away at Ukraine Military|Charles McPhedran|October 21, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Many persons impede their execution by not keeping the thumb independent enough of the rest of the hand.
Music-Study in Germany|Amy Fay
The degree of pallor furnishes a rough index to the amount of hemoglobin in the corpuscle.
A Manual of Clinical Diagnosis|James Campbell Todd
Wright and his followers regard the opsonic index as an index of the power of the body to combat bacterial invasion.
A Manual of Clinical Diagnosis|James Campbell Todd
A low color-index probably indicates a mild type of the disease.
A Manual of Clinical Diagnosis|James Campbell Todd
The color-index is thus almost invariably low, the average being about 0.5.
A Manual of Clinical Diagnosis|James Campbell Todd

British Dictionary definitions for thumb index

thumb index

noun

a series of indentations cut into the fore edge of a book to facilitate quick reference

verb thumb-index

(tr) to furnish with a thumb index

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