v. t. To handle; to wear or soil by handling; as books. Poe. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ }, n. A very diminutive person. [ Colloq. ] liwell. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. See Hop-o'-my-thumb. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Humming bird. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Hornless. See Hummel. [ Scot. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Humbled p. pr. & vb. n. Humbling ] 1. To bring low; to reduce the power, independence, or exaltation of; to lower; to abase; to humilate. [ 1913 Webster ]

Here, take this purse, thou whom the heaven's plagues
Have humbled to all strokes. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

The genius which humbled six marshals of France. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To make humble or lowly in mind; to abase the pride or arrogance of; to reduce the self-sufficiently of; to make meek and submissive; -- often used rexlexively. [ 1913 Webster ]

Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you. 1 Pet. v. 6.

Syn. -- To abase; lower; depress; humiliate; mortify; disgrace; degrade. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Compar. Humbler superl. Humblest ] [ F., fr. L. humilis on the ground, low, fr. humus the earth, ground. See Homage, and cf. Chameleon, Humiliate. ] 1. Near the ground; not high or lofty. [ 1913 Webster ]

Thy humble nest built on the ground. Cowley. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Not pretentious or magnificent; unpretending; unassuming; modest; as, a humble cottage. Used to describe objects. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Thinking lowly of one's self; claiming little for one's self; not proud, arrogant, or assuming; thinking one's self ill-deserving or unworthy, when judged by the demands of God; lowly; weak; modest. Used to describe people. [ 1913 Webster ]

God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. Jas. iv. 6. [ 1913 Webster ]

She should be humble who would please. Prior. [ 1913 Webster ]

Without a humble imitation of the divine Author of our . . . religion we can never hope to be a happy nation. Washington. [ 1913 Webster ]

Humble plant (Bot.), a species of sensitive plant, of the genus Mimosa (Mimosa sensitiva). --
To eat humble pie, to endure mortification; to submit or apologize abjectly; to yield passively to insult or humiliation; -- a phrase derived from a pie made of the entrails or humbles of a deer, which was formerly served to servants and retainers at a hunting feast. See Humbles. Halliwell. Thackeray. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE. humbilbee, hombulbe; cf. D. hommel, G. hummel, OHG. humbal, Dan. humle, Sw. humla; perh. akin to hum. √15. Cf. Bumblebee. ] (Zool.) The bumblebee. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Humble + -head. ] Humble condition or estate; humility. [ Obs. ] Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The quality of being humble; humility; meekness. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who, or that which, humbles some one. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. pl. [ See Nombles. ] Entrails of a deer. [ Written also umbles. ] Johnson. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OF. ] Humbleness; abasement; low obeisance. [ Obs. ] Chaucer. Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. With humility; lowly. Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Prob. fr. hum to impose on, deceive + bug a frightful object. ] 1. An imposition under fair pretenses; something contrived in order to deceive and mislead; a trick by cajolery; a hoax. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A spirit of deception; cajolery; trickishness. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. One who deceives or misleads; a deceitful or trickish fellow; an impostor. Sir J. Stephen. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Humbugged p. pr. & vb. n. Humbugging ] To deceive; to impose; to cajole; to hoax. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who humbugs. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The practice of imposition. [ 1913 Webster ]

pos>n. (Bot.) An annual weed (Polygonum Persicaria), having a lanceolate leaf with a dark spot in the middle. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Of or pertaining to Northumberland in England. -- n. A native or inhabitant of Northumberland. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. rumb, Sp. rumbo, or Pg. rumbo, rumo, probably fr. Gr. &unr_;&unr_;&unr_; a magic wheel, a whirling motion, hence applied to a point of the compass. See Rhomb. ] (Navigation) A line which crosses successive meridians at a constant angle; -- called also rhumb line, and loxodromic curve. See Loxodromic. [ 1913 Webster ]

To sail on a rhumb, to sail continuously on one course, following a rhumb line. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Bot.) A name given to several species of plants of the genus Polygonum, having angular stems beset with minute reflexed prickles. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE. thombe, thoumbe, þume, AS. þūma; akin to OFries. thūma, D. duim, G. daumen, OHG. dūmo, Icel. þumall, Dan. tommelfinger, Sw. tumme, and perhaps to L. tumere to swell. √56. Cf. Thimble, Tumid. ] The short, thick first digit of the human hand, differing from the other fingers in having but two phalanges; the pollex. See Pollex. [ 1913 Webster ]

Upon his thumb he had of gold a ring. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

Thumb band, a twist of anything as thick as the thumb. Mortimer. --
Thumb blue, indigo in the form of small balls or lumps, used by washerwomen to blue linen, and the like. --
Thumb latch, a door latch having a lever formed to be pressed by the thumb. --
Thumb mark. (a) The mark left by the impression of a thumb, as on the leaves of a book. Longfellow. (b) The dark spot over each foot in finely bred black and tan terriers. --
Thumb nut, a nut for a screw, having wings to grasp between the thumb and fingers in turning it; also, a nut with a knurled rim for the same perpose. --
Thumb ring, a ring worn on the thumb. Shak. --
Thumb stall. (a) A kind of thimble or ferrule of iron, or leather, for protecting the thumb in making sails, and in other work. (b) (Mil.) A buckskin cushion worn on the thumb, and used to close the vent of a cannon while it is sponged, or loaded. --
Under one's thumb, completely under one's power or influence; in a condition of subservience. [ Colloq. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Thumbed p. pr. & vb. n. Thumbing ] 1. To handle awkwardly. Johnson. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To play with the thumbs, or with the thumbs and fingers; as, to thumb over a tune. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To soil or wear with the thumb or the fingers; to soil, or wear out, by frequent handling; also, to cover with the thumb; as, to thumb the touch-hole of a cannon. [ 1913 Webster ]

He gravely informed the enemy that all his cards had been thumbed to pieces, and begged them to let him have a few more packs. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To play with the thumb or thumbs; to play clumsily; to thrum. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The goldcrest. [ Prov. Eng. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. Having thumbs. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Soiled by handling. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. An instrument of torture for compressing the thumb; a thumbscrew. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Without a thumb. Darwin. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. A screw having a flat-sided or knurled head, so that it may be turned by the thumb and forefinger. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. An old instrument of torture for compressing the thumb by a screw; a thumbkin. [ 1913 Webster ]