Thumbing one's nose

A person thumbing their nose
Statue of Till Eulenspiegel thumbing his nose at someone

Thumbing one's nose, also known as cocking a snook, is a sign of derision, disrespect, contempt, or defiance, made by putting the thumb on the nose, holding the palm open and perpendicular to the face, and wiggling the remaining fingers. It is used mostly by schoolchildren. It is also known as thumbing the nose, Anne's Fan or Queen Anne's Fan.

The phrase cocking a snook can be used figuratively: the Oxford English Dictionary cites a 1938 usage by Eric Ambler in his Cause for Alarm, where he writes that the Rome–Berlin axis "cocked the biggest snook yet at the League of Nations idea".

The gesture was commonly used by Charlie Chaplin, especially in his earlier films.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Cambridge University Press (2006). Cambridge Idioms Dictionary (2nd ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-86037-7.
  2. ↑ McNeill, David (1992). Hand and Mind: What Gestures Reveal About Thought. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
  3. ↑ 'Cock a snook' – the meaning and origin of this phrase, Phrases.org.uk. Retrieved at 1 January 2018
  4. ↑ Shipley, Joseph Twadell (2001). The Origins of English Words: A Discursive Dictionary of Indo-European Roots (reprint ed.). Baltimore: JHU Press. p. 302. ISBN 0-8018-6784-3. Retrieved 8 August 2009.([failed verification] - no explicit connection to one specific Queen Anne in this source.)
  5. ↑ "The British also call it "Queen Anne's fan" because it became popular during her reign, of 1702-1714." Cocking a snook at a bender, Chris Lloyd for The Northern Echo, Darlington, 6 Sep 2018, accessed 11 Oct 2021.
  6. ↑ "Snook, n.3". Oxford English Dictionary. Retrieved 1 January 2018.
  7. ↑ Fawell, John W. (17 January 2023). Charlie Chaplin: A Reference Guide to His Life and Works. Bloomsbury Publishing PLC. p. 75. ISBN 978-1-5381-4606-4.