finger

Less common meanings

9. 9
   touchverbtransitive

   To poke, probe, or feel something with a finger or fingers.

   He fingered the edge of the old photograph as he spoke.

   Customers like to finger the silk before deciding.

   UsageUse it with objects: finger the fabric, finger a glass. Without clear context, fingered herself can sound sexual.

   Similartouch, feel, handle, stroke, caress

   Note

   Handling rather than pressing: in narrative the verb often marks an idle, thoughtful gesture. Wells's narrator in The War of the Worlds speaks while fingering his wineglass, and Burgess's Alladad Khan wants to finger his mustache. Shakespeare already uses it in The Two Gentlemen of Verona. Source

   Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

   • H. G. Wells's narrator in The War of the Worlds speaks while fingering his wineglass. gutenberg.org
   • Anthony Burgess's character Alladad Khan wants to finger his moustache. mural.uv.es
   • Shakespeare uses the verb in The Two Gentlemen of Verona; Julia speaks the relevant line. gutenberg.org
10. 10
    glove partnouncountable

    The section of a glove shaped to cover a single finger.

    He tugged at each finger of the glove in turn before pulling it off his cold hand.

    She repaired a torn finger on each of the gardening gloves.

11. 11
    touch sexuallyverbvulgartransitive

    To sexually stimulate or penetrate one's own or a partner's genitals or anus with the fingers.

    They fingered each other on the narrow bed.

    She let him finger her as they kissed.

    Note

    The verb takes the person touched as its direct object, as in fingered him or fingered her, and turns reflexive for self-stimulation, as in fingered herself. The same verb also covers ordinary poking and fondling, so context decides whether the sexual reading is meant. Fingerbang and fingerfuck leave no doubt, at the cost of being far cruder.

12. 12
    nounvulgarcountable

    An instance of inserting a finger into someone's vagina or anus for sexual pleasure.

    Note

    The noun is converted from the sexual verb and counted as a single act. It is vulgar and largely confined to crude or jocular talk. Elsewhere, the verb or a clinical phrase is the safer choice. In mixed company the bare noun can also be misheard, since most of the word's other meanings are innocent. Source

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 1 fact

    • The noun denotes a single sexual act. en.wiktionary.org
13. 13
    drink measurenouncountable

    An informal measure of liquor equal to its depth in a glass, judged against the width of a finger held alongside.

    He poured a generous finger of bourbon before dinner.

    The bartender measured out two fingers of scotch.

    UsageUsually with a number: a finger of whiskey, two fingers of scotch.

    Similarshot, measure, dram, tot, nip

    Note

    The measure is taken by eye. The pourer holds the glass and reads the depth of the drink against the width of their fingers, so a customer can ask for two or three fingers of bourbon. The amount varies with the hand and the glass, so it is never an exact unit. Source

    Checked 3 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

    • The drink is measured visually by comparing its depth with the width of the pourer's fingers while holding the glass. en.wiktionary.org
    • This finger-based measure gives an approximate amount that depends on the fingers and glass used. en.wikipedia.org
14. 14
    single banananouncountable

    A protruding plant structure shaped like a finger, such as a single banana growing from its hand.

    The grower inspected every finger on the banana hand for bruises.

    A single finger had ripened faster than the rest of the bunch.

    Note

    Banana growers carry the metaphor all the way through: a cluster is a hand, and each banana on it is a finger. The word covers other protruding plant parts too, but the banana is the clearest case, because the two words work as a set. You inspect the hand first, then the fingers on it. Source

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

    • A banana cluster is called a hand, and its individual fruits are called fingers. cms.ctahr.hawaii.edu
    • Finger also denotes other protruding plant structures. en.wiktionary.org
15. 15
    wing bonenouncountable

    One of the digits that support the wing of a bat or pterosaur, or one of the reduced digits in a bird's wing.

    In bats, the wing membrane stretches between greatly elongated fingers.

    A pterosaur's wing stretched from one enormously long finger down to its ankle.

    Similardigit

    Note

    Here the name follows descent as well as looks. The wings of birds and bats are carried on structures that evolved from ancestral toes or fingers. Calling them fingers is therefore closer to a statement of origin than a comparison, unlike the loose likeness behind finger-shaped things. Source

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 2 facts

    • The wing digits of birds and bats are inherited anatomical structures, rather than merely finger-shaped projections. pressbooks-dev.oer.hawaii.edu
    • Bat wings are supported by modified ancestral forelimb digits. pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
16. 16
    verbtransitive

    To add markings to written music indicating which fingers should play particular notes or passages.

    Editors carefully finger difficult studies to guide learners.

    She fingered the whole sonata before it went to print.

    Similarannotate, mark

    Note

    The work happens on paper rather than at the instrument. The object is a score, a study or a whole sonata, and the result is a set of markings telling later players which finger takes each note. A fingered edition is one an editor has prepared in this way. Source

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 2 facts

    • The markings indicate which fingers should play the notes. en.wikipedia.org
    • An editor can prepare an edition by adding fingering instructions. henle.de
17. 17
    claw partnouncountable

    Either of the two opposing parts of an arthropod's pincer, the movable one or the fixed one.

    In most crabs the movable finger opposes a fixed projection of the claw.

    The crab gripped the shell tightly between its two fingers.

18. 18
    jet bridgenouncountable

    A narrow elevated walkway that connects a parked plane to the airport terminal.

    Ground crew retracted the finger before the plane pushed back.

    A faulty finger delayed boarding at gate twelve.

    Similarjetway, airbridge, gangway

19. 19
    small piernounabbreviationclipping

    A short, narrow pier that sticks out from a larger dock or wharf; short for finger pier.

    The harbormaster assigned us a finger on the south side of the marina.

    Several fingers extended from the main dock into the basin.

    Note

    A clipping: dock talk drops the second half of finger pier, a shorter, narrower pier projecting from a larger dock. The shortened noun behaves like any count noun, with the regular plural fingers. It belongs with finger-shaped things, since the pier is a finger of the dock. Source

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 2 facts

    • The nautical noun finger is a clipping of finger pier. en.wiktionary.org
    • A finger pier is a shorter, narrower pier projecting from a larger dock. en.wiktionary.org
20. 20
    lab tubenouncountable

    A tube projecting from a sealed apparatus, or in a cold finger projecting into one, used to draw off or condense material.

    Solvent vapor condensed on the cold finger and dripped back into the flask.

    During the sublimation, pure crystals slowly built up on the cold finger, which was chilled by running water.

    Note

    Laboratory glassware gives the word two directions. An ordinary finger is a tube projecting out of the sealed system, while a cold finger reaches inward and is chilled. Susan Trumbore's chapter in Mass Spectrometry of Soils (1996) shows both in one setup: a quartz or Pyrex finger holding catalyst under an oven, and a cold finger made from a copper rod in dry ice–isopropanol slurry. Source

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 5 facts

    • A laboratory finger can be a tube extending outward from a sealed system. en.wiktionary.org
    • A cold finger projects into the apparatus and provides a chilled surface. en.wikipedia.org
    • Susan Trumbore wrote the chapter “Applications of accelerator mass spectrometry to soil science” in Mass Spectrometry of Soils, edited by Thomas W. Boutton and Shin-ichi Yamasaki. en.wikipedia.org
    • Mass Spectrometry of Soils was published in 1996. books.google.com
    • The cited passage describes both a quartz or Pyrex catalyst finger beneath an oven and a copper-rod cold finger cooled in dry ice–isopropanol slurry. en.wiktionary.org
21. 21
    fish feelernouncountable

    One of the slender bony rays in front of the pectoral fins of gurnards and sea robins, used to feel along the seabed.

    Each finger on a sea robin carries taste receptors that help it find prey buried in the sediment.

    The gurnard crept across the seabed, probing the sand for shrimp with the bony fingers in front of its fins.

    Similarray

22. 22
    pickpocketnouncolloquialcountable

    A person skilled with their hands, especially a pickpocket who deftly steals from others.

    Similarpickpocket, dip, thief

23. 23
    person (slang)nounslangUKcountable

    A person, referred to in a casual or slang manner.

    Similarcharacter, customer, type, bloke, guy

    Note

    British slang uses it for a person, usually with an adjective that sizes the person up, as in a dodgy finger. It belongs to casual speech and reads oddly anywhere formal. Unlike underworld words for a policeman or an informer, it names no role and can mean anyone at all. Source

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

    • Finger has a British slang sense meaning a person without specifying a role. en.wiktionary.org
    • Separate slang senses of finger denote a policeman or an informer. en.wiktionary.org
24. 24
    verb

    To query another user's online status or details by means of the Finger network protocol.
25. 25
    noun

    A reference to a position in a data structure that gives fast access to nearby elements, as at the ends of a finger tree.
26. 26
    noun

    One of the individual receiver units in a rake receiver, each decoding a separate multipath component of the incoming signal.
27. 27
    nounobsoleteUK

    The foxglove, a tall plant with spikes of purple bell-shaped flowers.
28. 28
    nounobsolete

    One of the separate sections into which the liver is divided.
29. 29
    noun

    One of the long prongs on a scythe's cradle frame, lying parallel to the blade to gather cut grain.
30. 30
    nounobsolete

    The pointer on a dial that tells the time, as for hours or minutes, more usually called a hand.
31. 31
    nounobsoleteUS

    A police officer, or a guard in a prison.
32. 32
    nounslangUS

    Someone who tips off the police, especially by picking out a suspect in a lineup.
33. 33
    nounslangUS

    A criminal who picks out likely targets or checks out a place in advance of a robbery or other crime.
34. 34
    noun

    An old measure of length roughly a finger's breadth, defined differently over time, notably the English unit equal to a sixteenth of a foot, close to 1.9 centimeters.

    a piece of steel three fingers thick

    1648, John Wilkins, Mathematical Magick
35. 35
    noun

    A former measure for cloth, equal to 4.5 inches or 11.43 cm, roughly the length of a man's longest finger.
36. 36
    noun

    In old astronomy, one twelfth of the apparent breadth of the solar or lunar disk, used mostly when measuring eclipses.
37. 37
    nounobsolete

    Skill with the fingers, especially a musician's deftness in playing an instrument, as in 'a good finger.'

    A performer capable of doing justice to rapid or expressive passages, is said to have a good finger

    1786, Thomas Busby, Musical Dictionary
38. 38
    verbobsolete

    To pilfer or take something dishonestly.

    in the dark / Grop'd I to finde out them; had my desire, / Finger'd their Packet, and in fine, withdrew / To mine owne roome againe,

    c. 1599, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”
39. 39
    verbobsolete

    To carry out fine, careful handiwork.