THIMBLE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does thimble mean? 

• THIMBLE (noun)
  The noun THIMBLE has 2 senses:

1. as much as a thimble will hold

2. a small metal cap to protect the finger while sewing; can be used as a small container

  Familiarity information: THIMBLE used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• THIMBLE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

As much as a thimble will hold

Classified under:

Nouns denoting quantities and units of measure

Synonyms:

thimble; thimbleful

Hypernyms ("thimble" is a kind of...):

containerful (the quantity that a container will hold)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A small metal cap to protect the finger while sewing; can be used as a small container

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("thimble" is a kind of...):

cap (something serving as a cover or protection)

container (any object that can be used to hold things (especially a large metal boxlike object of standardized dimensions that can be loaded from one form of transport to another))

 Context examples 

The paper had been sealed in several places with a thimble by way of seal; the very thimble, perhaps, that I had found in the captain's pocket.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

A dressmaker, always stabbed in the breast with a needle and thread, boards and lodges in the house; and seems to me, eating, drinking, or sleeping, never to take her thimble off.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

These buckets were about the size of large thimbles, and the poor people supplied me with them as fast as they could: but the flame was so violent that they did little good.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

At first, being little accustomed to learn by heart, the lessons appeared to me both long and difficult; the frequent change from task to task, too, bewildered me; and I was glad when, about three o'clock in the afternoon, Miss Smith put into my hands a border of muslin two yards long, together with needle, thimble, &c., and sent me to sit in a quiet corner of the schoolroom, with directions to hem the same.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

A few small coins, a thimble, and some thread and big needles, a piece of pigtail tobacco bitten away at the end, his gully with the crooked handle, a pocket compass, and a tinder box were all that they contained, and I began to despair.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

I took up a thimble filled with liquor, which Glumdalclitch had given me for a cup, and drank their health, I drew out my hanger, and flourished with it after the manner of fencers in England.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

Then he went out again; and then she put her thimble and scissors in her pocket, and stuck a needle threaded with black thread neatly in the bosom of her gown, and put on her outer clothing smartly, at a little glass behind the door, in which I saw the reflection of her pleased face.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Long did the hours seem while I waited the departure of the company, and listened for the sound of Bessie's step on the stairs: sometimes she would come up in the interval to seek her thimble or her scissors, or perhaps to bring me something by way of supper—a bun or a cheese-cake—then she would sit on the bed while I ate it, and when I had finished, she would tuck the clothes round me, and twice she kissed me, and said, Good night, Miss Jane.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

I propped my eyelids open with my two forefingers, and looked perseveringly at her as she sat at work; at the little bit of wax-candle she kept for her thread—how old it looked, being so wrinkled in all directions!—at the little house with a thatched roof, where the yard-measure lived; at her work-box with a sliding lid, with a view of St. Paul's Cathedral (with a pink dome) painted on the top; at the brass thimble on her finger; at herself, whom I thought lovely.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)