Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun Any of several small freshwater sculpins of the genus Cottus, having a large spiny head and spiny fins, especially the European species C. gobio.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A fish, Cottus gobio, of the family Cottidæ.
- noun Any fresh-water sculpin of the genus Uranidea; one of the little star-gazers, of which there are several species, as U. richardsoni.
- noun The bib (a fish), Gadus luscus.
- noun The golden-crested wren, Regulus cristatus; the thumb-bird.
- noun The willow-warbler, Phylloscopus trochilus.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun
European bullhead .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun small freshwater sculpin of Europe and North America
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
[From its stocky, thumblike shape (the phrase miller's thumb was originally a folk expression referring to millers who gave short weight by tipping the scales with their thumbs).]
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Examples
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sionnach commented on the word miller's thumb
Despite what image search might have you believe, it's a fish of some kind (well, specifically of the sculpin kind):
Dictionary.com tells us that the name originates "From its stocky, thumblike shape (the phrase miller's thumb was originally a folk expression referring to millers who gave short weight by tipping the scales with their thumbs)"
Sometimes imagesearch appears completely loco to me.
April 10, 2009