Fingers and Fingering

Fingers and Fingering Fingers and Fingering Fingers and Fingering By Maeve Maddox Because of their daily familiarity, body parts contribute to the language far beyond their literal uses. Finger is an especially rich source of expressions. There are the literal uses: ring finger, index finger, middle finger, little finger, and forefinger. The earliest use of finger as a verb (1450) was with the meaning â€Å"to point.† The sense â€Å"to touch with the fingers† dates from 1590. Because of the long, thin shape of a finger, the word is used for anything long and thin: The campground lies nestled on  a finger of land between  the banks of the Alabama River and Isaac Creek. Kids  will love this homemade version of  fish fingers. (small elongated breaded fillets of fish). Ladyfingers, also called sponge fingers are low density, dry, egg-based and sweet sponge biscuits  roughly shaped like a large finger. Idioms with finger: to lay a finger on someone (to harm) He was crying, but I never laid a finger on him. to finger (to incriminate) When these suspects were picked up they  fingered other  accomplices. to lift a finger (to make an effort to help) Melissa never lifts a finger around the house  unless I ask her. to raise a finger against (to offer violence against) Kostia Petrovitch  never raised a finger against his  children.   to cross one’s fingers (to trust to luck) As for Theresa,  her  way was to  cross her fingers  and fervently pray. to burn one’s fingers (to suffer financial losses) The young Benjamin Disraeli  burned his fingers  so badly on Mexican and South  American mining shares in 1824-5 that his financial affairs remained encumbered for almost the rest of his life. to point an accusing finger (to point with the forefinger as a gesture of blame) Randy Meadows pointed an  accusing finger  at  the defendant  and offered damning evidence against him. to make a slip of the finger (to make an unintentional movement of the finger) In the world of internet banking millions of electronic payments are made every day, but make one slip of the finger and you could end up sending a payment to the wrong account. to put one’s finger on a problem (to identify the crux of a matter) Voltaire put his finger on the problem when he said, â€Å"The secret to being a bore is to tell everything.†Ã‚   a finger of Scotch or other liquid (a unit of measurement approximately the width of an adult finger) Marcus rose and went to the sideboard,  pouring  three healthy  fingers of scotch  into two glasses. a wag of the finger (a gesture or statement of reprimand) Literally, the â€Å"finger wag† is the action of reprimanding or warning someone by moving the forefinger from side to side. Basketball player Dikembe Mutombo was noted for wagging his finger as a warning to opponents that they would not score against him. In a segment called â€Å"Tip of the Hat and Wag of the Finger,† comedian Stephen Colbert offered praise and censure on topics in the news. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Expressions category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:100 Mostly Small But Expressive InterjectionsHang, Hung, Hanged50 Plain-Language Substitutions for Wordy Phrases