Meanings
plural hop-o'-my-thumbs
- colloquialdatedA very small person or creature.
"[…]And who are these little hop-o'-my-thumbs?” as Arun and Is jumped down from the cart.
1995, Joan Aiken, Cold Shoulder Road, published 2010, unnumbered page2 more examples
1830, Uncredited (John Poole), The New Monthly Magazine and Literary Journal, Part 1: Original Papers, page 81, As to changing them for a pack of your little hop-o'-my-thumbs, no bigger than the one you lent me t'other night — ! suppose I should ask you to let me have the mare you rode to cover o'Thursday — and a clever mare she is, […] .
"In the first place,” answered Hobbleday, somewhat tartly, “I suppose our Daubson, who painted the famous grenadier in Yawkins's skittle-ground, knew very well what he was about: he wasn't going to paint hop-o'-my-thumbs that might be mistaken for drummer-boys.[…]"
1837, “Opening of the Theatre-Royal, Little Pedlington”, in Colburn's New Monthly Magazine and Humorist, page 422
Origin
From the idea that such a person could hop over somebody's thumb; in common use in the 16th century.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
hop-o'-my-thumb. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hop-o'-my-thumb
“hop-o'-my-thumb.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hop-o'-my-thumb. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “hop-o'-my-thumb,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hop-o'-my-thumb.
Source: hop-o'-my-thumb on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.