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thumb-piece love

thumb-piece

Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A plate-shaped appendage to the handle of a vessel, meant to receive the thumb of the hand that grasps it, and afford a good hold.
  • noun The disk or button by pressing which a spring is opened.
  • noun In needle-manuf., a piece of stout leather used to protect the hand in pressing the needle-blanks against a grindstone to form the points.
  • noun On any piece of mechanism, a projection which is intended to be worked by the thumb.

Etymologies

Sorry, no etymologies found.

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Examples

  • The magazine can be cut off and the rifle used as a single loader by pushing forward a thumb-piece on the right side of the shoe.

    Scientific American Supplement, No. 601, July 9, 1887 Various

  • By 1714, the thumb-piece on English serving pots had disappeared, and the handle was no longer set at a right angle to the spout.

    All About Coffee 1909

  • The 1692 coffee pot of lantern shape is the property of H.D. Ellis, and has its spout curved upward at the top, being furnished with a small, hinged flap and a scroll-shaped thumb-piece attached to the rim of the cover.

    All About Coffee 1909

  • The thumb-piece, which is a familiar feature upon the tankards of the period.

    All About Coffee 1909

  • In 1692, the lantern straight-line coffee serving pot with true cone lid, thumb-piece, and handle fixed at right angle to the spout, was introduced into England, succeeding the curved oriental serving pot.

    All About Coffee 1909

  • Not considering this, however, he stood his ground, having the thumb-piece on his Winchester magazine shoved up and ready to make a noisy diversion if necessary in behalf of either wing.

    A Journey in Other Worlds 1894

  • Not considering this, however, he stood his ground, having the thumb-piece on his Winchester magazine shoved up and ready to make a noisy diversion if necessary in behalf of either wing.

    A journey in other worlds A romance of the future John Jacob Astor 1888

  • This was even more compactly fixed than the other; but the thumb-piece was projecting, and Fred began on this with his foot, kicking it upward with his toe, and stamping it down again, till it gradually loosened, and, after a little more working, shot back with ease.

    Crown and Sceptre A West Country Story George Manville Fenn 1870

  • 1714 -- The thumb-piece on English coffee pots disappears, and the handle is no longer set at a right angle to the spout.

    All About Coffee 1909

  • 1692 -- The "lantern" straight-line coffee pot with true cone lid, thumb-piece, and handle fixed at right angle to the spout, is introduced into England, succeeding the curved Oriental serving pot.

    All About Coffee 1909

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