thumbs-up

American  

[thuhmz-uhp] / ˈθʌmzˈʌp /

noun

Informal.

1. an act, instance, or gesture of assent, approval, or the like.

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thumbs up Cultural  

1. Expressions of approval and disapproval respectively: “The two critics disagreed about the movie; one gave it thumbs up, the other thumbs down.” In the gladiatorial contests of ancient Rome, a thumbs-up gesture from the crowd meant that the loser would live; thumbs down meant death.

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thumbs up Idioms  

1. An expression of approval or hopefulness, as in The town said thumbs up on building the elderly housing project. The antonym thumbs down indicates disapproval or rejection, as in Mother gave us thumbs down on serving beer at our party. Alluding to crowd signals used in Roman amphitheaters, these idioms were first recorded in English about 1600. In ancient times the meaning of the gestures was opposite that of today. Thumbs down indicated approval; thumbs up, rejection. Exactly when the reversal occurred is not known, but the present conventions were established by the early 1900s.

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Etymology

Origin of thumbs-up

First recorded in 1920–25

Example Sentences

There was also an attempt to keep the character going, to play on the empathy of the audience, watching a guy who, in another context, might greet you with a thumbs-up and say “Happy New Year.”

From Slate

Want its thumbs-up for a CEO’s pay package?

From The Wall Street Journal

He’s behind me now, and I don’t trust my voice to not break or squawk, so I just raise a purple-stained thumbs-up.

From Literature

My eyes are closed, so I just give a weak thumbs-up and a head nod.

From Literature

Jonesy laughs and I give Danny a thumbs-up as he falls in beside us.

From Literature