1. a thumb or little finger
Usage: archaic; dialectal
2. a torture device that crushes the thumbs
Usage: historical

Examples

• The old nursery rhyme mentioned each finger including the thumbkin.
• Medieval interrogators used a thumbkin to extract confessions.
• She wiggled her thumbkin playfully at the baby.
• The museum displayed various torture devices including an iron thumbkin.
• In the children’s song, they sang about the thumbkin dancing.