thumbkin

American  

[thuhm-kin] / ˈθʌm kɪn /

Also thumbikin

noun

1. thumbscrew.

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Etymology

Origin of thumbkin

First recorded in 1675–85; thumb + -kin

Example Sentences

It is rather curious that some of these names should have survived the wrecks of time, and be still preserved in a nursery-rhyme; yet such is the fact; for one thus commences, the fingers being kept in corresponding movements: Dance, thumbkin, dance, Dance, thumbkin, dance; Dance, ye merry men all around: But thumbkin he can dance alone; But thumbkin he can dance alone.

From Project Gutenberg

Dance, foreman, dance, Dance foreman, dance; Dance, ye merry men all around: But thumbkin he can dance alone; But thumbkin he can dance alone.

From Project Gutenberg

And so on, substituting in succession middleone, longman, or middleman, ringman, and littleman, and each verse terminating with "thumbkin he can dance alone."

From Project Gutenberg

DANCE, Thumbkin, dance; Dance, ye merrymen, every one; For Thumbkin, he can dance alone, Thumbkin, he can dance alone; Dance, Foreman, dance, Dance, ye merrymen, every one; But, Foreman, he can dance alone, Foreman, he can dance alone.

From Project Gutenberg

So they commenced quarrelling, till Thumbkin called out: "Leave it to me, Father; leave it to me."

From Project Gutenberg