thumb twiddling
wasting time
TRANSLATION
twiddling thumbs = Däumchen drehen; Zeit totschlagen; faulenzen --- Thumb Note :) Ich werde Ihnen die Daumen drücken (halten) = I'll keep my fingers crossed --- GOOGLE INDEX thumb twiddling: 273,000 hits twiddling thumbs: 20,700 hits
STATISTICS
IN THE PRESS
Nearly every day, the batch of items arriving for processing by 125 full-time employees came in waves, not reliably steady streams, leaving his workers busy in peak periods and TWIDDLING THUMBS most afternoons. ...
(Bank Technology News)
---
The Society for Cardiothoracic Surgeons claimed the number of operations had fallen for the first time in 23 years as surgeons were left TWIDDLING THEIR THUMBS because of a shortage of staff and intensive-care beds.
(The London Independent)
(Bank Technology News)
---
The Society for Cardiothoracic Surgeons claimed the number of operations had fallen for the first time in 23 years as surgeons were left TWIDDLING THEIR THUMBS because of a shortage of staff and intensive-care beds.
(The London Independent)
Did you
know?
twiddling thumbs, thumb twiddling
idiom
- To do little or nothing; to be idle
(The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.)
---
twiddle
- to touch lightly, to play with
(Wikipedia)
---
WORD ORIGIN
The figurative sense of twiddling thumbs was first recorded in 1846. Twirling thumbs was used in the same sense as early as 1816. The phrase simply means a situation when there is nothing to do, so the only alternative is to sit and “twiddle one's thumbs”.
The origin of the word twiddle is unknown, but is thought to combine twist or twirl with the word fiddle, which in its verb form means to move one's fingers or hands in a nervous fashion or to occupy oneself without any specific goal.
---
NOTE
The word thumb gets a lot of use in colloquial English:
- be all fingers and thumbs/be all thumbs = to be clumsy with your hands
- to be under someone's thumb = to be under someone else's control
- thumbs down = a show of disapproval
- thumbs up = a show of approval
- a rule of thumb = a principle that has wide application but not necessarily accurate or reliable in every situation
- stick out like a sore thumb = something or someone that is easily noticed
- to thumb your nose at someone or something = to show disrespect or disregard for rules, laws or authority
---
IMPRESS YOUR FRIENDS TODAY
say something like:
“I finished my work at 3:00 and afterwards just twiddled my thumbs until it was time to go home.”
idiom
- To do little or nothing; to be idle
(The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.)
---
twiddle
- to touch lightly, to play with
(Wikipedia)
---
WORD ORIGIN
The figurative sense of twiddling thumbs was first recorded in 1846. Twirling thumbs was used in the same sense as early as 1816. The phrase simply means a situation when there is nothing to do, so the only alternative is to sit and “twiddle one's thumbs”.
The origin of the word twiddle is unknown, but is thought to combine twist or twirl with the word fiddle, which in its verb form means to move one's fingers or hands in a nervous fashion or to occupy oneself without any specific goal.
---
NOTE
The word thumb gets a lot of use in colloquial English:
- be all fingers and thumbs/be all thumbs = to be clumsy with your hands
- to be under someone's thumb = to be under someone else's control
- thumbs down = a show of disapproval
- thumbs up = a show of approval
- a rule of thumb = a principle that has wide application but not necessarily accurate or reliable in every situation
- stick out like a sore thumb = something or someone that is easily noticed
- to thumb your nose at someone or something = to show disrespect or disregard for rules, laws or authority
---
IMPRESS YOUR FRIENDS TODAY
say something like:
“I finished my work at 3:00 and afterwards just twiddled my thumbs until it was time to go home.”
