little-man
Preserved but no longer current.
Also seen as: little finger
Called by the Anglo-Saxons the ear-finger^ because it can, from its diminutive size, be most easily in- troduced into the orifice of the ear.
Được gọi bởi người Anglo-Saxon là ngón tay tai vì kích thước nhỏ
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “little-man” mean?
Called by the Anglo-Saxons the ear-finger^ because it can, from its diminutive size, be most easily in- troduced into the orifice of the ear.
Is “little-man” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.