Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A post with projecting arm or arms for pointers, often terminating in the form of fingers, set up for the direction of travelers, generally where roads cross or divide.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun a guidepost resembling a hand with a pointing index finger.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A
board that shows the direction (and often distance) to a named place; especially one of several attached to amilepost - noun The milepost itself
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a guidepost resembling a hand with a pointing index finger
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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John sees, in that entirely insignificant thing, a kind of fingerpost pointing to far more important, deeper, and real correspondences.
Expositions of Holy Scripture: St. John Chaps. XV to XXI Alexander Maclaren 1868
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I think of the Tower of London like a tall fingerpost pointing up to God.
The Red Queen Philippa Gregory 2010
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But they were all written with the same size lettering and there seemed to be a maximum permitted length for a fingerpost.
The Hard Way Child, Lee 2006
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But they were all written with the same size lettering and there seemed to be a maximum permitted length for a fingerpost.
The Hard War Child, Lee 2006
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The road dropped a little into Milford, and the thing shied, put down its head and bolted, and Mr. Hoopdriver only thought of the brake when the fingerpost was passed.
The Wheels of Chance: a bicycling idyll Herbert George 2006
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Thus at length we come to an instance of the fingerpost on this subject.
The New Organon 2005
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We may here take for an instance of the fingerpost the following.
The New Organon 2005
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I have dwelt on them at some length to the end that men may gradually learn and accustom themselves to judge of nature by instances of the fingerpost and experiments of light, and not by probable reasonings.
The New Organon 2005
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Therefore instances of the fingerpost on this question will (if any) be those which prove that reflection may take place from a rare body, as flame, provided it be of sufficient denseness.
The New Organon 2005
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With regard to this, then, the following would be an instance of the fingerpost.
The New Organon 2005
chained_bear commented on the word fingerpost
Wikipedia's article about Iain Pears's novel An Instance of the Fingerpost explains the use of this word in the title (it's a quotation from Francis Bacon's writing). A good read in addition to just clicking the Wiki link above for an explanation of fingerposts.
October 16, 2008