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You are here: Home / Language / Where Was the Thimble Invented, What Was it Used For, and How Did it Get its Name?

Where Was the Thimble Invented, What Was it Used For, and How Did it Get its Name?

April 13, 2020 by Karen Hill

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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Filed Under: Language

About Karen Hill

Karen Hill is a freelance writer, editor, and columnist. Born in New York, her work has appeared in the Examiner, Yahoo News, Buzzfeed, among others.

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