A thimble is more than a token in a Monopoly game.
The thimble was originally called a thumb-bell, which is how it got its name.
Before the seventeenth century, when it was invented in Holland, pushing a sewing needle through skins or fabric often required the use of a small block of wood or bone.
Thimbles have a romantic history, and during the Victorian era thimbles were often love tokens.
They were even used to measure drinks, which gave us the expression, “Just a thimble-full.”
Someone who collects thimbles is a digitabulist.
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