👍 Twiddle One’s Thumbs, to: To Be Bored or Simply Brilliant
Definition:
To be bored; to be idle. The habit of idly turning one’s thumbs about each other during a period of enforced inactivity produced this cliché, which sprang to life in the mid-nineteenth century. “You’d have all the world do nothing . . . but twiddle its thumbs,” wrote Douglas Jerrold (Mrs. Caudle’s Curtain Lectures, 1846).
Related and Similar Terms:
- 🐘 Elephant in the room: An obvious problem no one wants to acknowledge.
- 🐢 Slow as molasses in January: Someone or something that is very slow.
- ⏳ Kill time: To pass time with unproductive activities.
- 📜 Idle hands are the devil’s workshop: Boredom and inactivity can make a person likely to partake in mischievous behavior.
Synonyms:
- Idling
- Whiling away time
- Loafing
- Procrastinating
Antonyms:
- Busy as a bee
- Hard at work
- Hustling
- Engrossed
Humorous Quotes:
- “I find television very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set, I go into the other room and read a book.” - Groucho Marx
- “Boredom: the desire for desires.” - Leo Tolstoy
Proverbs:
- “An idle brain is the devil’s workshop.”
- “When the well is dry, we know the worth of water.” - Benjamin Franklin
- “God sends meat, and the devil sends cooks.”
Literature, Books, and Movies:
- Literature: Mrs. Caudle’s Curtain Lectures by Douglas Jerrold
- Books: Boredom: A Lively History by Peter Toohey
- Movies: Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986)
- Songs: Time by Pink Floyd
### Which of these describes 'twiddle one’s thumbs'?
- [ ] Engaging in a heated debate
- [ ] Scrolling endlessly through social media
- [x] Being idle and bored
- [ ] Climbing a mountain
> **Explanation:** To 'twiddle one’s thumbs' means to be idle and bored, often engaging in absent-minded or trivial activity.
### Which phrase means 'wasting time'?
- [ ] Sprinting like a cheetah
- [x] Twiddle one’s thumbs
- [ ] Making lightning fast decisions
- [ ] Studying for an exam
> **Explanation:** 'Twiddle one’s thumbs' is synonymous with wasting or passing time unproductively.
### True or False: 'Twiddle one’s thumbs' is an antonym of 'hustling'
- [x] True
- [ ] False
> **Explanation:** 'Twiddle one’s thumbs' refers to being idle, which is the exact opposite of 'hustling', which implies being energetically busy.
Inspirational Farewell:
“Even when you find yourself just twiddling your thumbs, remember that every moment is an opportunity to cultivate curiosity—and sometimes, the best ideas blossom out of boredom.”
Penelope Prolix
