"Middle finger" Quotes from Famous Books
 ... the conditions on which I should be set free. After they were read I was requested to swear to perform them in the method prescribed by their laws, which was to hold my right foot in my left hand, and to place the middle finger of my right hand on the crown of my head, and my thumb on the top of my right ear. But I have made a translation of the conditions, which I here offer to ...
— The Blue Fairy Book • Various
... he should beg the oil. The women were required to light the lamps in memory of Eve, who by her disobedience extinguished the light of the world. Every Hebrew was obliged to pare his nails on Friday, beginning with the little finger of the left hand, and then going to the middle finger, after which he returned to the fourth finger, and then to the thumb and fore finger. In cutting the nails of the fingers of the right hand, he began with the middle finger, then proceeded to the thumb, and after that took the fore finger, the middle and fourth fingers, in the order stated. The parings ...
— The Mysteries of All Nations • James Grant
... ancient ritual of English marriages, the ring was placed by the husband on the top of the thumb of the left hand, with the words, 'In the name of the father;' he then removed it to the forefinger, saying, 'In the name of the Son;' then to the middle finger, adding, 'And of the Holy Ghost;' finally, he left it as now, on the fourth finger, with the closing word, 'Amen.'" The History and Poetry ...
— Enquire Within Upon Everything - The Great Victorian Domestic Standby • Anonymous
... teased his small straw-coloured moustache with his thumb and middle finger. "There are a few bright spots left, thank you!" He began to explain to a novice what life at the front was really like. Nobody who had seen service talked about the war, or thought about it; it ...
— One of Ours • Willa Cather
... pulling gently at his heartstrings when he steps up to a hotel register to write down the name of that little haven that means home. It is like one of those toy return-balls. If the ball is attached by an elastic string to some little girl's middle finger how joyfully it springs forth from her hand, how eagerly returns again! When suddenly on one of its trips the elastic snaps, the ball becomes lifeless and rolls listlessly away in the gutter. When my home ties ...
— The Fifth Wheel - A Novel • Olive Higgins Prouty
... there, not carded, but a hank of it, soft, white and most delicate to touch. To handle it had given her the queerest sensation. She had shut her eyes, and it had seemed to weave itself into the daintiest garments—very small, you understand, and with sleeves no longer than a middle finger. But it was a silly imagining, for not many days afterward, looking down from the canvas, she had seen the old lady, with her clicking ivory needles, knit the wool into an ...
— The Best British Short Stories of 1922 • Edward J. O'Brien and John Cournos, editors
... Sight and touch agree that it is single. Now squint, and sight tells you that there are two marbles, while touch asserts that there is only one. Next, return the eyes to their natural position, and, having crossed the forefinger and the middle finger, put the marble between their tips. Then touch will declare that there are two marbles, while sight says that there is only one; and touch claims our belief, when we attend to it, just as ...
— Lay Sermons, Addresses and Reviews • Thomas Henry Huxley
... Let's shake on it!" agreed Diana, extending a small, slim hand, with a garnet birthstone-ring on the middle finger. ...
— A harum-scarum schoolgirl • Angela Brazil
... peculiar instance of hypertrophy of the fingers in a sickly girl. The middle and ring fingers of the right hand were of unusual size, the middle finger measuring 5 1/2 inches in length four inches in circumference. On the left hand the thumb and middle fingers were hypertrophied and the index finger was as long as the middle one of the right hand. The ...
— Anomalies and Curiosities of Medicine • George M. Gould
... with but rarely—is that of keraphyllocele. This is a tumour-like growth of horn, varying in size from the thickness of an ordinary quill pen to that of one's middle finger, growing down from the coronary cushion, and attached to the inner side of the wall of the hoof. With this lameness is always present, and more or less deformity of the hoof results. This condition will be found described at ...
— Diseases of the Horse's Foot • Harry Caulton Reeks
... Wash carefully the middle finger with aqua ammonia, and afterward with plenty of water, and then dip it into a drinking glass in which a fragment of camphor is rapidly moving, and the gyration will not be stopped. But it will be made to stop instantly if the finger in its natural state ...
— Scientific American Supplement, No. 401, September 8, 1883 • Various
... I am, that I am a great philosopher. It is seen by these very things: why do you wish to show it by others? Do you not know that Diogenes pointed out one of the sophists in this way by stretching out his middle finger? And then when the man was wild with rage, This, he said, is the certain person: I have pointed him out to you. For a man is not shown by the finger, as a stone or a piece of wood; but when any person shows the man's principles, then he shows him ...
— A Selection from the Discourses of Epictetus With the Encheiridion • Epictetus
... but the blue sky over us and the gold tree in front of us. It was wonderfully pleasant. After Antonia had said the new words over and over, she wanted to give me a little chased silver ring she wore on her middle finger. When she coaxed and insisted, I repulsed her quite sternly. I did n't want her ring, and I felt there was something reckless and extravagant about her wishing to give it away to a boy she had never seen before. No wonder Krajiek got the better of these people, ...
— My Antonia • Willa Sibert Cather
... do, Mr. Tudor, how d'ye do? I hope you have brought a little of this with you;' and Jabesh opened out his left hand, and tapped the palm of it with the middle finger of his right, by way of showing that he expected some money: not that he did expect any, cormorant that he was; this was not the period of the quarter in which he ever got money from ...
— The Three Clerks • Anthony Trollope
... people of high rank, and that he himself would deliver the said message. The merry fellow pushes open the door, shapes the fingers of his left hand into the form of a sheath, and moves gently therein the middle finger of his right, at the same time looking at the lady of Valennes, and saying to her, "Come, all is ready." Those who did not understand the affair burst out laughing to see Madame get up and go to the vicar, because she knew he referred to the ...
— Droll Stories, Volume 1 • Honore de Balzac
... the bush, several men in the train of a fatakie wear a large iron ring on the thumb and middle finger; to the latter a piece of plate iron is attached, with which they make signals to each other, and the fatakie, when apart, by clinking the rings. This method of communication is very significant, and it is understood as well, and is as promptly answered or obeyed, as the boatswain's whistle ...
— Lander's Travels - The Travels of Richard Lander into the Interior of Africa • Robert Huish
... law of probabilities is applied in the case of the identification of persons "wanted" by the police. For example, the official description of an absconding forger runs as follows:—"He has a habit of rubbing his right thumb against the middle finger as if turning a ring. He frequently strokes his right eyebrow with right forefinger when engaged in writing; when perplexed, he bites his lower lip and ...
— The Detection of Forgery • Douglas Blackburn
... insist on any other details, knowing that it will be difficult for you to attain perfection in these. An English master might give you a single rein to be passed outside the little finger, and between the forefinger and the middle finger, the loop coming between the forefinger and thumb, and being held in place by the thumb. Then he would expect you to keep your right shoulder back very firmly, but a French master will tell you that it is better to learn to keep the shoulder back a little while holding a ...
— In the Riding-School; Chats With Esmeralda • Theo. Stephenson Browne
... Ickkeega. A woman Meanako Innago. Fish net Ya Sheebee. Tobacco pipe Tsheeree Shirree. Water Wakha Meezee. To drink Horopsee Noomoong. A book Shoomootza Sheemootsee. The finger Yewbee Eebee. The thumb O yewbee Hoee eebee. The thigh Momo Moomoo. The arm Oondee Teenoo. The middle finger Nagayewbee Nackkaeebee. Paper Kame Kabee. A dog Enoo Ing. A cat Necko Mia. A child Vasasso Warrabee. The foot Assee Shanna. The chin Olongyse Ootooga. The ear Meemee Mimmee. Yes O Oo. No Ny Oongba. Hair Kamu ...
— Account of a Voyage of Discovery - to the West Coast of Corea, and the Great Loo-Choo Island • Captain Basil Hall
... using the code-book that morning, preparing despatches for Paris, and now, at the first series of significant clicks, I dropped my left middle finger on the key and repeated the signal to Paris, using the required variations. Then I rose, locked the door, and ...
— The Maids of Paradise • Robert W. (Robert William) Chambers
... collecting flowers, making garlands of flowers, playing the parts of members of a fictitious family, cooking food, playing with dice, playing with cards, the game of odd and even, the game of finding out the middle finger, the game of six pebbles, and such other games as may be prevalent in the country, and agreeable to the disposition of the girl. In addition to this, he should carry on various amusing games played by several persons together, such as hide and seek, playing with ...
— The Kama Sutra of Vatsyayana - Translated From The Sanscrit In Seven Parts With Preface, - Introduction and Concluding Remarks • Vatsyayana
... belief is very ancient. From Professor Conington's Satires of A. Persius Flaccus, I extract the following notice of it:—"Look here—a grandmother or a superstitious aunt has taken baby from his cradle, and is charming his forehead and his slavering lips against mischief by the joint action of her middle finger and her purifying spittle; for she knows right well how to check the evil eye. Then she dandles him in her arms, and packs off the pinched little hope of the family, so far as wishing can do it, to the domains of Licinus, or the palace of Croesus. 'May he be a catch for my ...
— Folk Lore - Superstitious Beliefs in the West of Scotland within This Century • James Napier
... Levy in a tone impossible to describe, and accompanying the word with that movement of the middle finger and thumb, commonly called a "snap," which ...
— The International Monthly, Volume 5, No. 3, March, 1852 • Various
... feet high can measure off their own length with their outstretched arms. Here, where Arab traders have been, the cubit called mokono, or elbow, begins to take the place of the fathom in use further south. The measure is taken from the point of the bent elbow to the end of the middle finger. ...
— A Popular Account of Dr. Livingstone's Expedition to the Zambesi and Its Tributaries • David Livingstone
... pearls—"Millionaire Houston's" perhaps—was the ring Max had given her the night when the telegram came. The photograph, which was large and clearly reproduced, showed the curiously shaped stone on the middle finger of Billie's left hand. A large round pearl adorned the finger on which Max had once hoped she might wear the blue diamond, a pearl so conspicuous that the original of the picture appeared to display it purposely. "Millionaire Houston" ...
— A Soldier of the Legion • C. N. Williamson
... hunchback, who is present as a familiar clown or merrymaker, and dances and laughs to please the company, at the same time snapping his fingers. Two other illustrations of this action, the middle finger in one leaving and in the other having left the thumb and passed to its base, are seen in Figs. 86, 87. This gesture by itself has, like others mentioned, a great variety of significations, but here ...
— Sign Language Among North American Indians Compared With That Among Other Peoples And Deaf-Mutes • Garrick Mallery
... also presents another and very curious resemblance to him, namely, by practising a singular trick. When she impatiently wants something, she holds out her little hand, and rapidly rubs the thumb against the index and middle finger: now this same trick was frequently performed under the same circumstances ...
— The Expression of Emotion in Man and Animals • Charles Darwin
... saw your toy coming, and run; but most of them took their punishment with the savage pluck of so many little Sioux. As the game began in the raw cold of the earliest spring, every boy had chapped hands, and nearly every one had the skin worn off the knuckle of his middle finger from resting it on the ground when he shot. You could use a knuckle-dabster of fur or cloth to rest your hand on, but it was considered effeminate, and in the excitement you were apt to forget it, anyway. Marbles were always ...
— A Boy's Town • W. D. Howells
... not sit down, but stood by the fire dipping her inky middle finger in the egg-cup, which contained vinegar, and smearing it over the ink stains on her face, frowning the whole time ...
— Bleak House • Charles Dickens
... little animal called an aye-aye. This animal has two hands. Each hand has five fingers. The peculiar thing about these hands is that the middle finger is elongated a great deal—it is about twice as long as the others. This is to enable it to scoop a special sort of insect out of special cracks in the special trees it frequents. Now, how did the finger begin to elongate? A little ...
— God and my Neighbour • Robert Blatchford
... black wrath, he perceived that he must have himself in hand to deal with the matter. He took a long draught of whisky-and-soda, rose, walked across the room and back again, grinding his teeth, rolling his eyes, and snapping the middle finger and thumb of his right hand. Never had the flush of rage been so deep in his face. It was almost purple. Never had his eyes protruded ...
— The Loudwater Mystery • Edgar Jepson
... the knife again, carefully work with it down toward the tail, and as far round the back as you can get with safety. Now let the bird rest on its head, as it were, with the beak from you, and, placing the fingers with the thumb on the back (which is now underneath), the middle finger on the root of the tail inside, flanked by the first and third fingers keeping down the skin on either side, cautiously insert the knife through the skin of the vent, and cut that free, cutting upward in a slanting direction; having done this, carefully cut away on the root of ...
— Practical Taxidermy • Montagu Browne
... by the lecturer placing his left forefinger on the outside of the right cheek, then striking it with the tip of the middle finger of the right hand, just in the same way as he would percuss ...
— The Brain and the Voice in Speech and Song • F. W. Mott
... me the liberty of turning it to the right, and of observing the person and gesture of him that was to speak. He appeared to be of a middle age, and taller than any of the other three who attended him, whereof one was a page that held up his train, and seemed to be somewhat longer than my middle finger; the other two stood one on each side, to support him. He acted every part of an orator, and I could observe many periods of threatenings, and others ...
— Gulliver's Travels - Into Several Remote Regions of the World • Jonathan Swift
... said to have been signed with blood in accordance with a custom still occasionally prevalent, in which a drop of blood is drawn from the middle finger and sealed by pressing it with the thumb nail. Rein's ...
— Japan • David Murray
... school one day before everybody in it knew about her gold ring and her dollar, and it happened in this way: She sat on the bench between Rosy and Matilda Stebbins, and Rosy had a ring on the middle finger of her left hand. Rosy was a fair, pretty little girl, with long light curls, which all the other girls admired and begged for the privilege of twisting. Rosy at recess usually had one or two of her friends standing at her back twisting her ...
— Comfort Pease and her Gold Ring • Mary E. Wilkins Freeman
... like 'im, that's all," was the answer. "Z—— tries to get the best of everything. Give ye a drink from 'is water bottle when your own's empty; 'e wouldn't. I wouldn't trust 'im that much." He clicked his thumb and middle finger together as he spoke, and without another word he vanished into ...
— The Red Horizon • Patrick MacGill
... once," replied Mr. Curtis, "and all I can remember of him is that he is rather short, fair, thin, and clean-shaven, and that he has lost the middle finger of his ...
— John Thorndyke's Cases • R. Austin Freeman
... anterior abdominal wall about 2 inches above the anterior-superior spine. As there was some doubt as to penetration of the abdomen, and as the exit wound was of considerable size, the wound was explored, an anaesthetic having been given. A clean-cut track in the bone was discovered which allowed the middle finger to be placed in it. There was little splintering of either inner or outer table of the bone beyond the width of the track, but plates of each table adhered on the one side to the origin of the gluteus medius, and on the other to the iliacus, the latter ...
— Surgical Experiences in South Africa, 1899-1900 • George Henry Makins
... darling, pass your middle finger down and rub it on my clitoris, and then suck the nipple of my bubby next you, and work away with ...
— The Romance of Lust - A classic Victorian erotic novel • Anonymous
... by the wrist with the left hand of the elder, who repeats "Ang ama, ang ina, ang kaka, ang ali, ang nono, toloy, os-os sa kili-kili mo." That is, "The father (thumb), the mother (forefinger), the elder brother (middle finger), the elder sister (ring finger), the grandparent (little finger) straight up to your armpit." The armpit is then tickled. Os-os is a verb meaning "to go up stream." This is a common game among the ...
— Philippine Folk-Tales • Clara Kern Bayliss, Berton L. Maxfield, W. H. Millington,
... piece of cork. Apply the points of the compasses lightly and simultaneously to different parts of the body, and ascertain at what distance apart the points are felt as two. The following is the order of sensibility: tip of tongue, tip of the middle finger, palm, forehead, and back ...
— A Practical Physiology • Albert F. Blaisdell
... nail. Is the free edge or the root the thickest? Trim closely the thumb nail and the nail of the middle finger of one hand and try to pick up a pin, or other minute object, from a smooth, hard surface. The result indicates what use of the ...
— Physiology and Hygiene for Secondary Schools • Francis M. Walters, A.M.
... finger is that which is next to the little finger. The thumb is called the parent-finger; the first finger is called the index; the long is called the middle finger; but the third finger has no name. It is true that it is sometimes called the finger for applying rouge; but that is only a name given it by ladies, and is not in general use. So, having no name, it is called the nameless ...
— Tales of Old Japan • Algernon Bertram Freeman-Mitford
... observed Cleek, bending over the spurious gem and focussing the glass upon it; not, however, for the purpose of studying the fraud, but to examine something just noticed—something round and red and angry-looking which marked the palm itself, at the base of the middle finger. ...
— Cleek: the Man of the Forty Faces • Thomas W. Hanshew
... the room with a loud "Peace be upon ye!" to which H. H. replying graciously, and extending a hand, bony and yellow as a kite's claw, snapped his thumb and middle finger. Two chamberlains stepping forward, held my forearms, and assisted me to bend low over the fingers, which however I did not kiss, being naturally averse to performing that operation upon any but a woman's hand. My two servants then took their turn: in this case, after the back was saluted, the palm ...
— First footsteps in East Africa • Richard F. Burton
... Shuckford and Hales, that the Noachian cubit was what is known as the common or natural cubit, "containing," says Sir Walter, "one foot and a half, or a length equal to that of the human fore-arm measured from the sharp of the elbow to the point of the middle finger;" others contending that it was the palm-cubit, "which taketh," adds my authority, "one handful more than the common;" yet others, the royal or Persian cubit of twenty-one inches; and so on; for there are, it seems, five several kinds of cubit to choose from, all differing ...
— The Testimony of the Rocks - or, Geology in Its Bearings on the Two Theologies, Natural and Revealed • Hugh Miller
... virtue attributed to this act. Then the Brahman, seated upon his heels, fulfils the most sacred of his religious duties: he meditates upon his fingers. For the fingers are sacred, inhabited by different manifestations of Vishnu; the thumb by Govinda, the index-finger by Madhava, the middle finger by Hrikesa, the third by Trivikama and the little finger by Vishnu himself. 'Homage to the two thumbs,' says the Brahman, 'to the two index-fingers, to the two middle fingers, to the two "unnamed fingers," to the two little fingers, to the two palms, to the two backs ...
— The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India - Volume II • R. V. Russell
... sucking of his thumb. Now this was a curious property that Fin's thumb had. In this very thing, moreover, he was very much resembled by his great foe, Cucullin; for it was well known that the huge strength he possessed all lay in the middle finger of his right hand, and that, if he happened by any mischance to lose it, he was no more, for all his bulk, than ...
— Celtic Fairy Tales • Joseph Jacobs (coll. & ed.)
... me what she said and what signs she made to me. "She spoke not," answered I; "but put her index finger to her mouth, then joining it to her middle finger, laid them both on her bosom and pointed in the ground, after which she drew in her head and shut the wicket and I saw her no more. She took my heart with her and I sat till sundown, expecting her to appear again at the window; but she came not: so, when I despaired of her, ...
— The Book Of The Thousand Nights And One Night, Volume II • Anonymous
... she said, "j'ai grande envie de vous le dire." She hesitated the fraction of a moment, glanced at a tiny watch set in a ring upon the middle finger of her right hand, took Rose by the arm as if to keep her from getting away, and ...
— The Real Adventure • Henry Kitchell Webster
... thus a certain time but not a fixed space; this is sometimes extended to three or four months, but seldom more than half that time. A certain set of venerable old Gentlemen who wear very long nails as a distinguishing badge on the thumb, fore and middle finger of each hand, constantly travel through the nation (when i was there, i was told there were but five of this respectable order) that one of them may acquaint those concerned, of the expiration of this period, which is according to their own fancy; the day being come, the friends and ...
— An introduction to the mortuary customs of the North American Indians • H. C. Yarrow
... Street—Ah, that belonged to another time and country! Had he not always been thus, had he not sat here night after night, from as far back as he could remember, looking pensively over just such shimmering textures, and slowly twirling the stem of a glass like this one between his thumb and middle finger? He rather thought ...
— Youth and the Bright Medusa • Willa Cather
... disc very nicely balanced and turning in the center of a cavity set into a table like a circular wash-basin, with an outer rim turned slightly inward. The "croupier" revolves the wheel to the right. With a quick motion of his middle finger he flicks a marble, usually of ivory, to the left. At the Vesper Club, always up-to-date, the ball was of platinum, not of ivory. The disc with its sloping sides is provided with a number of brass rods, some perpendicular, some horizontal. As ...
— Master Tales of Mystery, Volume 3 • Collected and Arranged by Francis J. Reynolds
... Indians' arrows, that they have invariably been a yard long; the reason of this would seem to be that their measure for the arrow was the arm's length, that is, from the centre of the chest to the tip of the middle finger, that being the proper length to draw the bow—the latter was about five feet long, generally made of mountain ash, but ...
— Lecture On The Aborigines Of Newfoundland • Joseph Noad
... proximity, and suddenly dodging away. When a player is hard pressed or breathless, or does not wish to play, he may become immune from tagging by crossing any one finger over its neighbor on either hand, as the forefinger over the middle finger. It is considered "babyish," however, to resort to this unless there is some very good reason. A player who has had a good fair chase ought to be willing to be ...
— Games for the Playground, Home, School and Gymnasium • Jessie H. Bancroft
... brass and never saw my eyes a fairer than she, and in fine my tongue faileth to describe her beauty. When she caught sight of me looking at her, she put her forefinger into her mouth, then joined her middle finger and her witness finger[FN483] and laid them on her bosom, between her breasts; after which she drew in her head and closed the wicket shutter and went her ways. There upon fire broke out in and was heaped upon my heart, and greater grew my smart; the one sight cost me a thousand ...
— The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Volume 2 • Richard F. Burton
... Lasse, anxiously, holding up his thumb, forefinger, and middle finger. Truth to tell, Pelle had seen nothing, but his imagination ran ...
— Pelle the Conqueror, Complete • Martin Andersen Nexo
... bones of veterinarians answer to the joints of our middle fingers, while the hoof is simply a greatly enlarged and thickened nail. But, if what lies below the horse's 'knee' thus corresponds to the middle finger in ourselves, what has become of the four other fingers or digits? We find in the places of the second and fourth digits only two slender splint-like bones, about two-thirds as long as the cannon bone, which gradually taper to their lower ends and bear no finger joints, or, as they are termed, ...
— Thomas Henry Huxley; A Sketch Of His Life And Work • P. Chalmers Mitchell
... any other traditions of him, and can he have any connection with the name bestowed by children on the middle finger, in the ...
— Notes & Queries, No. 41, Saturday, August 10, 1850 • Various
... frowned at him, and winked too, while he laid his huge white hand on his watch-pocket, tapping with his middle finger on the spot which, as he knew, the average layman dedicated to the heart. He trusted to Larry's quickness, and did ...
— Mount Music • E. Oe. Somerville and Martin Ross
... man punished a boy was by thumping his bed. I knew that women had a different and less satisfactory method, for I remembered that my mother had spanked me and Aunt Deel had a way of giving my hands and head a kind of watermelon thump with the middle finger of her right hand and with a curious look in her eyes. Uncle Peabody used to call it a "snaptious look." Almost always he whacked the bed with his slipper. There were exceptions, however, and, by and by, I came to know in each case the destination of the slipper ...
— The Light in the Clearing • Irving Bacheller
... When it is desired to add lime to the quid, the tube is taken in one hand and held in a downward position with the thumb and little finger underneath it and the other fingers above it. The first finger is then made to slide with force from the middle finger down to the tube, thereby tapping out the lime. This tapping motion is similar to that ...
— The Manbos of Mindano - Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences, Volume XXIII, First Memoir • John M. Garvan
... water, and as he made his way through the crowd with the censer, used to say to the ladies in French, "Pardon, excusez" but never lifted his eyes, and he had eyelashes like that!' Maria Nikolaevna marked off with the nail of her middle finger quite half the length of the little finger and showed Sanin. 'My tutor was called—Monsieur Gaston! I must tell you he was an awfully learned and very severe person, a Swiss,—and with such an energetic face! Whiskers black as pitch, a Greek profile, and lips that ...
— The Torrents of Spring • Ivan Turgenev
... what was troublin' them," he said, playing with the diamond ring on his middle finger. "They was talking round and round it, but they never named it right out. But it seems the younger one has been paid off. ...
— Those Who Smiled - And Eleven Other Stories • Perceval Gibbon
... is held and guided by the right hand, but is pushed along by the middle finger of the left hand placed at the back of the blade, close down near the point. The left hand should be generally flat on the work-table, palm down, and the nail of the middle finger must be kept short. This position is shown (fig. ...
— Wood-Block Printing - A Description of the Craft of Woodcutting and Colour Printing Based on the Japanese Practice • F. Morley Fletcher
... They make the same claims we do. But somewhere, Greta, you have to trust." He put out the middle finger ...
— No Great Magic • Fritz Reuter Leiber
... drew nearer to her I forgot all about her eyes in the interest awakened by her hands. And when it came my turn to pause before her, it was upon the middle finger of her right hand my eyes were fixed. For there I saw THE RING; the veritable ring of my fair neighbor, if the description given by ...
— The Bronze Hand - 1897 • Anna Katharine Green (Mrs. Charles Rohlfs)
... right hand; she stripped off her glove, laid the tip of her middle finger on his wrist, and glanced down at the gold watch ...
— The Tracer of Lost Persons • Robert W. Chambers
... pencil stub with a blunt point, or a small notch may be cut in the back end of the beam, in which a pencil point is held while the gage is worked as usual except that its position is reversed. For work requiring less care, the pencil may be held in the manner usual in writing, the middle finger serving as a guide, or a pair of pencil compasses may be used, one leg serving as a guide. A special gage is made for gaging curved lines, ...
— Handwork in Wood • William Noyes
... slender, with Roger's blue eyes and a mass of red hair piled high on her head. She carried one of Roger's stockings with a darning ball in the toe in her left hand and the thimble gleamed on the middle finger of her right hand as she put it on ...
— The Forbidden Trail • Honore Willsie
... through caverns, where they can only pass on small rafts. He was sent there by Pangeran Mumeim to get goats, as these tailed gentry keep a great many of them. He says their tails are as long as the two joints of the middle finger, fleshy and stiff. They must be very inconvenient, for they are obliged to sit on logs of wood made on purpose, or to make a hole in the earth, to accommodate their tails before they can sit down. These people do not eat rice, but sago made into cakes ...
— Sketches of Our Life at Sarawak • Harriette McDougall
... uncultivated until exhausted. The average farmer thus has about as many acres in wheat as in tobacco and raises perhaps twelve bushels of wheat per acre. Some corn is also raised, and I have seen fields so exhausted that the stalk at the ground was scarcely larger than my middle finger. The corn crop may possibly average 10 to 15 bushels per acre, or, in Virginia terminology, ...
— The Negro Farmer • Carl Kelsey
... over and possessed himself of her hand. She pulled it from him gently, but he paid no attention to the little muscular protest, and examined the hand critically. On the back of the middle finger he pointed out a scar—a very ...
— The Brown Mouse • Herbert Quick
... to be done for a pupil is to see that the hand is in correct position. I explain that the wrist should be about on a level with the second joint of the middle finger, when the fingers are properly rounded. The knuckles will then be somewhat elevated; in fact they will naturally take care of themselves, other points of the hand being correct. Two things are of supreme importance: namely, firm finger joints and loose wrists; these must be insisted on from the ...
— Piano Mastery - Talks with Master Pianists and Teachers • Harriette Brower
... tortoise, and when you come to a cross road and do not know which one to choose, put down the tortoise and follow it. Thus you will not go wrong." For people who are afraid of seeing bogies at night, the following is recommended:—"With the middle finger of the right hand trace on the palm of the left hand the words I am a devil, and close your hand up tight. You will then be able to travel without fear." Sea-sickness may be prevented by drinking the drippings from a bamboo punt-pole mixed with boiling water, or by inserting a lump of ...
— Chinese Sketches • Herbert A. Giles
... all be of the brightest. At the right hand of each guest should be placed an engraved glass for water. To make certain that these are in line all around, it is well to measure with the hand from the edge of the table to the tip of the middle finger and there place the glass; following this rule around the entire circumference. This glass, if wine is used, gives a center, round which the vari-colored wineglasses ...
— Social Life - or, The Manners and Customs of Polite Society • Maud C. Cooke
... his warm imagination, to such a length, that I told him in confidence out to one side, that if I ever hearn him go on so agin about it, and if that fish kep' a growin' to that alarmin' extent, I should have to tell its exact length; it wuz jest as long as my middle finger, for I measured it on the boat, foreseein' trouble ...
— Samantha at Coney Island - and a Thousand Other Islands • Marietta Holley
... would be quite ruined, too," said Manuel, looking at it more carefully. Upon the middle finger was a copper ring, in which was set a largish black stone: this was Schamir. But Manuel looked only ...
— Figures of Earth • James Branch Cabell
... four heads to the length of the leg from the acetabulum to the heel, divided themselves into two heads going to the thigh and two heads to the shank; while in the cross measurement two heads equal the breadth of the chest, and three measure the length from the shoulder to the middle finger. These measures—a mere rough rule of thumb in our eyes—contained to this mediaeval mind the promise of some great mystery. To him, accustomed to hear all the occurrences of Nature, and all human concerns referred to astrological calculations, and conceiving the ...
— Renaissance Fancies and Studies - Being a Sequel to Euphorion • Violet Paget (AKA Vernon Lee)
... hand rest on the north pole of a magnet and the forefinger be extended in the direction of the lines of force, then the outstretched thumb will indicate the direction in which the wire or conductor moves and the bent middle finger the direction of the current. These three digits, as will be noticed, are all at right angles to each other, and this relation is the best for inducing the strongest current in a dynamo or the most energetic movement of the conductor in an ...
— The Story Of Electricity • John Munro
... and through the dangers lurking among the hundreds of islands of the Archipelagos straight to the land of Lacedaemon. This is the central of the three peninsulas in which the Peloponnesus ends, and might be called the middle finger of that large hand of which Arcadia ...
— Odysseus, the Hero of Ithaca - Adapted from the Third Book of the Primary Schools of Athens, Greece • Homer
... the little Eohippus (p. 222) I am going to be a horse And on my middle finger-nails ...
— A Mother's List of Books for Children • Gertrude Weld Arnold
... pet!" cried Faith gayly. "Not yet," and she picked up the lively one. "See, you hold them this way;" she held the shell between her thumb and middle finger and the sharp little claws sawed the air in vain. "There, cunning," she added, looking into the turtle's bright eyes, "go see your auntie or uncle, or whoever it is," and she put it into her dress with the other one, and they ...
— Jewel's Story Book • Clara Louise Burnham
... real self, made short work of the little devils who covered the earth and filled the air. Seizing one after another, she bit its life out, or swallowed it as if it had been a shrimp. The old man represented the action most vividly: pressing his thumb, forefinger, and middle finger into a cone, he brought them quickly to his mouth, while he snapped his jaws together like a dog seizing a morsel, an action that pictured the story better ...
— Unwritten Literature of Hawaii - The Sacred Songs of the Hula • Nathaniel Bright Emerson
... fiancx-o betrothed man, fiance. fid-i to rely upon, trust. fidel-a faithful, loyal. fier-a proud, haughty. fil-o son. filozof-o philosopher. fin-i (trans.), to finish, end. fingr-o finger; "dika fingro", thumb; "montra fingro", index finger; "longa fingro", middle finger; "ringa fingro", ring-finger; "malgranda fingro", little finger. firm-a firm, steady. fisx-o fish. fizik-o physics, physical science. flag-o flag, banner, small standard. flank-o side. flar-i (trans.), to smell, scent. flav-a yellow. ...
— A Complete Grammar of Esperanto • Ivy Kellerman
... the splendid gem, glittering and sparkling. "And I hate insincerity," he continued. Then, having taken out the ring, he inspected it as if he wished it could help him, turning it round on the tip of his middle finger. "Trust her? I should think so! Like her? Of course I do. I'll settle on her anything Giles pleases, but I must act like a gentleman, and not pretend to any ...
— Fated to Be Free • Jean Ingelow
... with the forefinger entirely open; the middle finger slightly bent, the thumb crossed upon the third finger, and ...
— Notes and Queries, Number 184, May 7, 1853 • Various
... little Eohippus, "I am going to be a horse! And on my middle finger-nails To run my earthly course! I'm going to have a flowing tail! I'm going to have a mane! I'm going to stand fourteen hands high ...
— The Wit and Humor of America, Volume I. (of X.) • Various
... at his hands. The middle finger of the right one, with which he had struck Brayley's heavy cheek-bone, was swollen to twice its natural size, stiff and sore. The nails were broken and blackened. There were a dozen scratches and little cuts. The palms ...
— Under Handicap - A Novel • Jackson Gregory
... under no uneasiness myself on this score, as I was perfectly familiar with snow blindness, having seen cases of it in Switzerland, and knew that in all probability my eyes would get quite right again in a week's time, as it turned out that they did. They also discovered that the middle finger of my right hand was terribly lacerated, and that the skin was completely stripped off the back of it. This I knew to be a much more serious affair, as the frost had evidently got fast hold of it, and I thought it very likely that I should lose it. This, however, seemed a very trifling ...
— A Night in the Snow - or, A Struggle for Life • Rev. E. Donald Carr
... so. He scared that old horse-thief, Adams, just about dead. Then he went to kill me, that kep' him from bein' buried early to-morrow. I've been wild that way myself, and wantin' to shoot up the whole outfit." Jones looked at the place where his middle finger used to be, before a certain evening in Tombstone. "But I never—" He glanced towards the ditch, perplexed. "What's that mean? Why in the world does he git to cryin' for now, do you suppose?" Jones took to singing without knowing it. "'Ye shepherds, tell me, ha-ve you seen my Flora ...
— Red Men and White • Owen Wister
... every step, pose, gesture. One would not have wanted her white neck a mite less full or her beautiful arms more slender. Never were hands more exquisite than hers, and it was a joy to look at them when she threaded her needle or adjusted her gold thimble to her taper middle finger as she sewed away on the little night-drawers or fashioned a bodice ...
— The Awakening and Selected Short Stories • Kate Chopin
... Hamel like an open book under the eye; on the left flank is the rather big, steep, green hill, topped by a few trees, before mentioned. These trees grow in and about what was once the village of Ovillers-la-Boisselle. The hill does not seem to have a name; it may be called here Middle Finger Hill or ...
— The Old Front Line • John Masefield
... tea-cup with a nervous clatter as her god-daughter advanced to greet her. Yes, Pennie certainly poked out her chin and shrugged up one shoulder. She had none of the easy grace which adorned the Merridews. All her movements were abrupt. Worst of all, on the middle finger of the hand she held out was a large black stain ...
— Penelope and the Others - Story of Five Country Children • Amy Walton
... six inches from the nock, set your thick end of the rib in position on the lines of glue. Hold the shaft under your left arm while with the left thumb, forefinger, and middle finger steady the feathers as they are respectively put in place. With one end of a piece of cotton basting thread in your teeth and the spool in your right hand, start binding the ribs down to the arrow shaft. After a few turns proceed up the shaftment, adjusting the feathers in position as you rotate ...
— Hunting with the Bow and Arrow • Saxton Pope
... He extended the middle finger of his left hand and Penrod promptly seized it, but did not twist it, for he was instantly swung round with his back to his amiable new acquaintance: Rupe's right hand operated upon the back of Penrod's slender neck; Rupe's knee tortured the small ...
— Penrod • Booth Tarkington
... is given by inserting the first and middle finger of the right hand between the thumb and fourth finger of the respondent's left, and describing a rotatory motion in the air with the little finger. N. B. Much practice is necessary to enable members to exchange this signal in such a manner as not to ...
— What Katy Did At School • Susan Coolidge
... ludicrous figure I presented, and I thought desparingly "Emily did it." After supper I went to the library, and there it was—this piece of work which Hal had done, representing me sitting under that old apple tree, hemming and thinking. It was so perfectly done, even to the plain ring on my middle finger, a wide old-fashioned ring which had been my grandmother Minot's, and bore the initials "E.M." I could not speak when I saw it, and if I could I should not have dared to for fear of some unfortunate expression. I wished in my heart it had been any ...
— The Harvest of Years • Martha Lewis Beckwith Ewell
... from camp, not 100 yards from it, we jumped two bucks. We killed both of them, each getting one. Just about then, we began to think things were coming our way. We drew the deer, and in hanging them upon a small oak tree, I pressed a yellow-jacket with the middle finger of my right hand. Before I got the stinger out, my upper lip swelled up to enormous proportions, and both my eyes were swollen shut. Chauvin looked at me with open-eyed and open-mouthed astonishment. In a characteristic tone, native to ...
— Out of Doors—California and Oregon • J. A. Graves
... carry a white handkerchief—the middle finger thrust through a hole in one corner—in all their dances; we have, elsewhere, described the dances as we have seen them performed, ...
— The Morris Book • Cecil J. Sharp
... third tea-spoon full at ten o'clock, and I received complete relief; my body calmed; my sleep placid; but when I awoke in the morning, my right hand, with three of the fingers was swollen and inflamed. The swelling in the hand is gone down, and of two of the fingers somewhat abated, but the middle finger is still twice its natural size, so that I write with difficulty. This has been a very rough attack, but though I am much weakened by it, and look sickly and haggard, yet I am not out of heart. Such a bout; such a 'periless ...
— Reminiscences of Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Robert Southey • Joseph Cottle
... deer, bone it and season it, then take out the back sinew and the skin, and lard the fillets or back with great lard as big as your middle finger; being first seasoned with nutmeg, and pepper; then take four ounces of pepper, four ounces of nutmeg, and six ounces of salt, mix them well together, and season the side of venison; being well slashed ...
— The accomplisht cook - or, The art & mystery of cookery • Robert May
... the chin—hip—the insertion of the middle finger. The end of the calf of the leg on the inside of the thigh.—The end of the swelling of the shin bone of the leg. [6] The smallest thickness of the leg goes 3 times into the ...
— The Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci, Complete • Leonardo Da Vinci
... me. He raised his right hand as high as his shoulder. The first finger and the middle finger were stretched out; the other fingers were closed. He was smiling. I looked at his hand and ...
— Who Goes There? • Blackwood Ketcham Benson
... whether the left middle finger should be a plain arch, a tented arch, or a radial loop, the ...
— The Science of Fingerprints - Classification and Uses • Federal Bureau of Investigation
... went on again. "To get back to Mekstrom's Disease and what we know about it. We know that the crawl goes at about a sixty-fourth of an inch per hour. If, for instance, you turned up here with a trace on your right middle finger, the entire first joint would be Mekstrom's Flesh in approximately three days. Within two weeks your entire middle finger would be solid. Without anesthesia we could take a saw and cut off a ...
— Highways in Hiding • George Oliver Smith |
