Meaning
Completely dominated or controlled by another person, with little or no independent say in decisions. It usually describes a marriage, family or workplace relationship in which one person must constantly defer to the other, and is often said with sympathy for, or mild mockery of, the person being controlled. Slightly disapproving or pitying toward the person controlled, so it can sound insulting if aimed at the wrong party. Regional use: General English.
Origin
The expression appears to have been figurative from the start: the picture is of a victim so insignificant, or a master so overpowering, that a thumb is enough to hold the victim down. The earliest citation given by The Phrase Finder is the posthumously published Life and Posthumous Works of Arthur Maynwaring (1715), in which the French King, 'having them under his Thumb, compell'd them to go at his Pace'. Halliwell's Dictionary of Archaic and Provincial Words (1847) records a Nottinghamshire verb 'thumbing' for the intimidation of servants by masters, apparently to control their votes, showing the image still productive a century later. A falconry origin, in which a handler pins a hawk under the thumb, is sometimes repeated, but The Phrase Finder finds no early reference linking the phrase to falconry and treats the story as a modern flight of fancy.
Research Sources
References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.
Variants
- have someone under your thumb
- keep someone under the thumb
- under her thumb
- under his thumb
- under someone's thumb
Usage Examples
- Everyone at the firm knew the partners were under the thumb of their biggest client.
- His sisters teased him about being under his wife's thumb, though he preferred to call it a happy division of labour.
- The new director kept every department under her thumb, approving even routine stationery orders personally.