English · Idiom Historical

to bite one's thumb at another

Preserved but no longer current.

Meaning · English

To insult or defy a man by putting the thumbnail into the mouth and clicking it against the teeth.

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.

Topics: Hands Historical slang (1800s)

Common questions

What does “to bite one's thumb at another” mean?

To insult or defy a man by putting the thumbnail into the mouth and clicking it against the teeth.

Is “to bite one's thumb at another” formal or informal?

No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.

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