finger

Universal Words noun, verb noun 1 one of the four long thin parts that stick out from the hand (or five, if the thumb is included): She ran her fingers through her hair. * Hold the material between finger and thumb. * He was about to speak but she raised a finger to her lips. * The old man wagged his finger at the youths. seealsoBUTTER-FINGERS, FOREFINGER, GREENFINGERS, INDEXFINGER, LITTLEFINGER, MIDDLEFINGER, RINGFINGER 2 (-fingered) (in adjectives) having the type of fingers mentioned; having or using the number of fingers mentioned: long-fingered * nimble-fingered * a four-fingered chord seealsoLIGHT-FINGERED 3 the part of a glove that covers the finger 4 ~ (of sth) a long narrow piece of bread, cake, land, etc: a finger of toast * chocolate fingers * a narrow finger of land pointing out into the sea seealsoFISHFINGER 5 ~ (of sth) an amount of alcohol that fills a glass to the same depth as the width of a person's finger IDIOMS the finger of suspicion if the finger of suspicion points or is pointed at sb, they are suspected of having committed a crime, being responsible for sth, etc. get, pull, etc. your finger out (BrE, informal) used to tell sb to start doing some work or making an effort: You're going to have to pull your finger out if you want to pass this exam. give sb the finger (AmE, informal) to raise your middle finger in the air with the back part of your hand facing sb, done to be rude to sb or to show them that you are angry have a finger in every pie (informal) to be involved in a lot of different activities and have influence over them, especially when other people think that this is annoying have, etc. your fingers in the till (BrE, informal) to be stealing money from the place where you work have / keep your finger on the pulse (of sth) to always be aware of the most recent developments in a particular situation lay a finger on sb (usually used in negative sentences) to touch sb with the intention of hurting them physically: I never laid a finger on her. * If you lay a finger on me, I'll call the police. not put your finger on sth to not be able to identify what is wrong or different about a particular situation: There was something odd about him but I couldn't put my finger on it. put / stick two fingers up at sb (BrE, informal) to form the shape of a V with the two fingers nearest your thumb and raise your hand in the air with the back part of it facing sb, done to be rude to them or to show them that you are angry seealsoV-SIGN: She enjoys sticking two fingers up to convention. work your fingers to the bone to work very hard moreatBURNv., COUNTv., CROSSv., LIFTv., POINTv., SLIPv., SNAPv., STICKY, THUMBn. verb [VN] 1 to touch or feel sth with your fingers: Gary sat fingering his beard, saying nothing. 2 ~ sb (for sth)