Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To fumble; do anything imperfectly or irresolutely.
  • To touch something lightly.
  • noun The male plants of hemp, which, being soonest ripe, are picked out by hand from among the female, which are left to ripen their seed.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • Light summer hemp, that bears no seed.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun the male hemp plant

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Dutch femel, from Low German fimel, from French (chanvre) femelle ‘female (hemp)’.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word fimble.

Examples

  • They're her favourites (after Pocoyo) at the moment and her new hand sign for them is "fimble fingers"!

    tequilamonky Diary Entry tequilamonky 2009

  • Then it will cease to be nothing! ” “What fimble-tossle!

    365 tomorrows » 2006 » January : A New Free Flash Fiction SciFi Story Every Day 2006

  • Let's just skip all the fimble-famble and get right to his comments, shall we?

    DVICE Atom Feed Kevin Hall 2010

  • When a crowd assembled to watch some public spectacle, a pickpocket would stand next to his victim and then he would (here comes the interesting verb) fimble him, using only his fingertips to probe surreptitiously until he located the victim’s note-case (as wallets were often called in those days).

    The Right Word in the Right Place at the Right Time William Safire 2004

  • When a crowd assembled to watch some public spectacle, a pickpocket would stand next to his victim and then he would (here comes the interesting verb) fimble him, using only his fingertips to probe surreptitiously until he located the victim’s note-case (as wallets were often called in those days).

    The Right Word in the Right Place at the Right Time William Safire 2004

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • to touch lightly

    March 8, 2010