Cottus, having a large spiny head and spiny fins, especially the European species C. gobio.' name='description'> miller's thumb - definition and meaning
miller's thumb love

Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Any of several small freshwater sculpins of the genus Cottus, having a large spiny head and spiny fins, especially the European species C. gobio.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A fish, Cottus gobio, of the family Cottidæ.
  • noun Any fresh-water sculpin of the genus Uranidea; one of the little star-gazers, of which there are several species, as U. richardsoni.
  • noun The bib (a fish), Gadus luscus.
  • noun The golden-crested wren, Regulus cristatus; the thumb-bird.
  • noun The willow-warbler, Phylloscopus trochilus.

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

  • noun European bullhead.

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

  • noun small freshwater sculpin of Europe and North America

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[From its stocky, thumblike shape (the phrase miller's thumb was originally a folk expression referring to millers who gave short weight by tipping the scales with their thumbs).]

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word miller's thumb.

Examples

    Sorry, no example sentences found.

Comments

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

  • Despite what image search might have you believe, it's a fish of some kind (well, specifically of the sculpin kind):

    Dictionary.com tells us that the name originates "From its stocky, thumblike shape (the phrase miller's thumb was originally a folk expression referring to millers who gave short weight by tipping the scales with their thumbs)"

    Sometimes imagesearch appears completely loco to me.

    April 10, 2009