Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. The nail of the thumb.
- n. Computer Science A reduced image of a graphic or document page, used in order to view multiple images on a screen simultaneously or to download such images more rapidly.
- adj. Of, relating to, or of the size of a thumbnail.
- adj. Brief; cursory: a thumbnail biography.
Wiktionary
- n. The fingernail on the thumb.
- n. A rough sketch (e.g., the size of one's thumbnail).
- n. A small picture, used as a compact representation of a larger image.
- v. transitive To describe concisely.
WordNet 3.0
- n. the nail of the thumb
Etymologies
- thumb + nail. The phrase thumbnail sketch was first attested 1852. Verb sense attested 1930s. (Wiktionary)
Examples
“Worse, the color of the bar below a thumbnail is meaningless -- it is pulled from one of the colors used for the Web site's favicon and, otherwise, does not appear to convey any important technical information.”
IDG: 6 things we like about Internet Explorer 9 beta (and six not so much)
“I find it easier to script if I draw everything out in thumbnail form first; the graphics hold together the flow of the story.”
“This will display the file size, for images, the dimensions, and for folders, the number of items inside below each in thumbnail view.”
“The new update optimises thumbnails — instead of irregular rectangles each thumbnail is a centre-cropped square for maximum thumbnails per page — enlarges images on a distraction free black background with auto-fading buttons, and supports a finger-friendlier interface that emphasises touch and swipe versus the tap-based interface of the old Google Images Search.”
Google Image Search Updates For Easier Phone-Based Browsing | Lifehacker Australia
“The second thumbnail from the bottom right is the CTA Bus Tracker that allows me to track mass transit in Chicago, specificly, my bus, just by hitting the refresh button.”
The Full-Screen Firefox Cloud Desktop | Lifehacker Australia
“Like many events sketched repeatedly in thumbnail fashion, the witch trials have become a caricature, a short-hand reference for fanaticism and the darker passages of America's colonial history.”
The Heretic's Daughter: Summary and book reviews of The Heretic's Daughter by Kathleen Kent.
“This allows me to see the best photos first, in thumbnail view so I can review them quickly.”
“The images are available in thumbnail or high-resolution versions with significant metadata.”
“I really like the one with door and maze shaped as a skull. web thumbnail is my favorite giantyoda”
Cool Stuff: The Shining - Posters and Tribute Artwork | /Film
“After searching using any of the five methods, the result will be displayed in thumbnail format.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘thumbnail’.
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LIT - Ulysses - key words and phrases
money cowrie, bedraggle, omphalos, ineluctable, postprandial, bladderwrack, modality barnacle..., loofah, shipworm, cither, embattle, Malachi and 503 more...
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11250 more...
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Nails
Any word or phrase with the letters n-a-i-l (in that order). Extra points for anything snaily.
nail, snail, nails, snails, thumbnail, fingernail, toenail, doornail, cut nail, wire nail, bullethead nail, finish nail and 35 more...
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franky's Words
formitastic, human resources, cocktail, gravatar, tequila, twitter, moloko, gmail, beeb, mp3, cover art, thumbnail and 184 more...
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sionnach's Words
contumely, fomite, holmgang, poltroon, eleemosynary, obsidian, nugatory, grindcore, felch, recrudescent, pyx, parenteral and 3271 more...
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Just 'cause I like 'em, T
torquate, thalassocracy, toothsome, travois, tempestuous, tone, tincture, tripwire, tether, trill, tenacious, travesty and 355 more...
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Speaking in Tongues - an REM list
Words heard in various REM songs that I enjoy and that I think are indicative of the band. Not too literally, of course.
pilgrimage, pageant, suspicion, penitence, gentlemen, chronic, stigma, deadlier, transit, fortunate, momentum, misconstrued and 162 more...
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Eudora Welty
scallopy, time's nick, joggling board, kindling, Scotch legs, bless out, unselfishness, gorgette, thumbnail, norate, fluzions, mirate and 9 more...
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Chandler
overmantel, manzanita, icebucket, handhewn, homesteader, caterpillars, eggheaded, ashcan, thumbnail, unclassifiable, nut hatch, unnaturally and 25 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for thumbnail.
mollusque There were unnoticeable places where the paint had run down those hard rods, that had never quite got dry, and when George went away on a case or was late coming home she would lie there indenting these little rivers of paint with her thumbnail very gently, to kill time, the way she would once hold rose petals on her tongue and gently bite them, waiting here in the store, the days when he courted.
--Eudora Welty, 1946, Delta Wedding Dec 24, 2010
mollusque He scratched a match on his thumbnail and watched it burn and tried to blow it out with a long steady breath that just bent the flame over.
--Raymond Chandler, 1943, The Lady in the Lake, chapter 35 Sep 4, 2009