Tom Thumb

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Tom Thumb

1. A hero of English folklore, who was no bigger than his father's thumb.

2. A person of very small physical stature.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Tom Thumb

1. (Biography) General, stage name of Charles Stratton. 1838–83, US midget, exhibited in P. T. Barnum's circus

2. a dwarf; midget

[after Tom Thumb, the tiny hero of several English folk tales]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

Tom′ Thumb′

1. a diminutive hero of folk tales.

2. an extremely small person; dwarf.

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Noun	1.	Tom Thumb - an imaginary hero of English folklore who was no taller than his father's thumb
	2.	Tom Thumb - a very small person small person - a person of below average size

Translations

Peukaloinen

Tom Pouce

Hüvelyk Matyi

Мальчик-с-пальчик

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References in classic literature ?

Tom Thumb put out his head for a moment, and then popped it in again.

Tom Thumb and Hunca Munca went cautiously across the hearth-rug.

TOM THUMB and Hunca Munca went up-stairs and peeped into the dining- room.

"Let it alone," said Tom Thumb; "give me some fish, Hunca Munca!"

THEN there was no end to the rage and disappointment of Tom Thumb and Hunca Munca.

TOM THUMB went up the kitchen chimney and looked out at the top--there was no soot.

WHILE Tom Thumb was up the chimney, Hunca Munca had another disappointment.

THEN those mice set to work to do all the mischief they could--especially Tom Thumb! He took Jane's clothes out of the chest of drawers in her bedroom, and he threw them out of the top- floor window.

WITH Tom Thumb's assistance she carried the bolster down-stairs and across the hearth-rug.

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Then Tom Thumb, seeing his father, cried out, 'See, father, here I am with the cart, all right and safe!

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No little Gradgrind had ever associated a cow in a field with that famous cow with the crumpled horn who tossed the dog who worried the cat who killed the rat who ate the malt, or with that yet more famous cow who swallowed Tom Thumb: it had never heard of those celebrities, and had only been introduced to a cow as a graminivorous ruminating quadruped with several stomachs.

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"He seems to have a mania for diamonds," said Morcerf, smiling, "and I verily believe that, like Potemkin, he keeps his pockets filled, for the sake of strewing them along the road, as Tom Thumb did his flint stones."