Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The finger next to the thumb; the index or second digit of the hand (counting the thumb as first). See finger.

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

  • noun The finger next to the thumb; the index finger.

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

  • noun The index finger: the first finger next to the thumb.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the finger next to the thumb

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From fore- + finger.

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Examples

  • I must tell you about my hand: you think the swelling more important than it is; the two middle fingers were much as now for some weeks before you left, but with the thumb and forefinger I could still do much; now the forefinger is as powerless and pained as the other two; that is all the difference, but a conclusive one, for one can do nothing with only a thumb!

    Letters and Memorials of Jane Welsh Carlyle 1883

  • Make two little mittens, and two little socks with stuffed toes, remembering to stuff one sock higher than the other, as your forefinger is shorter than your middle finger, and you want your dancer to have both legs the same size.

    Harper's Young People, March 9, 1880 An Illustrated Weekly Various

  • Even now, five months afterwards, my forefinger is still numba queer effect for a neck wound to have.

    Homage to Catalonia 1938

  • As we have said, he expounds himself no more, the significant forefinger is down, the eye no longer imprisons yours.

    Julia Ward Howe, 1819-1910 Maud Howe Elliott 1915

  • A bruise in the webbing between the thumb and the forefinger is a classic defense wound.

    Without Pity Ann Rule 2003

  • A bruise in the webbing between the thumb and the forefinger is a classic defense wound.

    Without Pity Ann Rule 2003

  • This is especially true if you increase the pressure in your right thumb and forefinger, which is what usually happens.

    Find Your Own Fundamentals BOB TOSKI 1992

  • This is especially true if you increase the pressure in your right thumb and forefinger, which is what usually happens.

    Find Your Own Fundamentals BOB TOSKI 1992

  • His fingers curved into a lion's open mouth; on his forefinger was the royal ring of Troizen, with the Mother being worshipped on a pillar.

    The King Must Die Renault, Mary, 1905-1983 1958

  • To refresh the sages, the cord must hang about the neck, and the water run over the side of the hand between the thumb and the forefinger, which is bent back.

    The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India Volume II R. V. Russell

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