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Finger vs Linger - What's the difference?

finger | linger |

As a proper noun finger

is .

As a verb linger is

to stay or remain in a place or situation, especially as if unwilling to depart or not easily able to do so.

finger

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • (label) One of the long extremities of the hand, sometimes excluding the thumb.
  • * 1915 , (Eleanor Stackhouse Atkinson), ,
  • We have five senses and five fingers' and five toes. The starfish eats with five ' fingers .
  • * 1916 , The Finger Talk of Chicago's Wheat-Pit'', '':
  • Each finger' extended represents one-eighth of a cent. Thus when all four ' fingers and the thumb are extended, all being spread out from one another, it means five-eighths.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2014-03-29, volume=410, issue=8880, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= Don’t cramp my style , passage=In 1993 [Victor Candia] noticed that the fingers of his left hand were starting to curl up as he played [on his guitar]. It felt to him as if a magnet in his palm were preventing him from opening them. A week later, he could not play at all.}}
  • A piece of food resembling such an extremity.
  • Anything that does work of a finger, such as the pointer of a clock or watch, or a small projecting rod, wire, or piece in a mechanical device which is brought into contact with an object to effect, direct, or restrain a motion.
  • (also finger pier) A walkway extending from a dock, an airport terminal, etc, used by passengers to board a waiting ship or aeroplane.
  • An amount of liquid, usually alcohol, in a glass, with the depth of a finger's length.
  • The breadth of a finger, or the fourth part of the hand; a measure of nearly an inch; also, the length of finger, a measure in domestic use in the United States, of about four and a half inches or one eighth of a yard.
  • * Bishop (John Wilkins) (1614-1672)
  • a piece of steel three fingers thick
  • Skill in the use of the fingers, as in playing upon a musical instrument.
  • * (1755-1838)
  • She has a good finger .

    Derived terms

    * at one's fingertips * burn one's fingers * butterfingers * cross one's fingers * fat-finger * finger alphabet * finger bowl * finger buffet * finger chip * finger dry * finger food * finger language * finger mark * finger millet * finger painting * finger pick * finger post * finger roll * finger wave * fingerboard * fingered * fingering * fingerling * fingermark * fingernail * finger-paint * fingerpicking * fingerplate * fingerpost * fingerprint * fingerspelling * fingerstall * fingertip * finger-wagging * fish finger * five-finger discount * five-finger exercise * forefinger * get one's finger out * get one's fingers onto * give the finger to * have a finger in every pie * have one's fingers in many pies * have one's fingers in the till * index finger * ladyfinger * lay a finger on * lift a finger * little finger * long finger * middle finger * one's fingers itch * point the finger at * pull one's finger on * put the finger on * putty in someone's fingers * ring finger * skirt finger * slip through one's fingers * snap one's fingers * split finger * sticky fingers * trigger finger * wag a finger (at) * work one's fingers to the bone * wrap around one's fingers * zinc finger

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To identify or point out. Also put the finger on . To report to or identify for the authorities, rat on, rat out, squeal on, tattle on, turn in, to finger.
  • To poke or probe with a finger or fingers.
  • * Shakespeare
  • Let the papers lie; / You would be fingering them to anger me.
  • * 2009 , Win Blevins, Dreams Beneath Your Feet , page 135:
  • Feeling tender around the face, she fingered herself gingerly. Yes, it was swollen, very sore around the cheekbones, with dried blood on the outsides of her eye sockets, below her nostrils, and below one ear.
  • To use the fingers to penetrate and sexually stimulate one's own or another person's vagina or anus; to fingerbang
  • * 2007 , Madeline Bastinado, A Talent for Surrender , page 201:
  • She fingered him, spreading the gel and sliding the tip of her finger inside him.
  • * 2008 , Thomas Wainwright (editor), Erotic Tales , page 56:
  • She smiled, a look of amazement on her face, as if thinking that maybe this was the cock that she had been fantasizing about just now, as she fingered herself to a massive, body-engulfing orgasm.
  • (music) To use specified finger positions in producing notes on a musical instrument.
  • (music) To provide instructions in written music as to which fingers are to be used to produce particular notes or passages.
  • (computing) To query (a user's status) using the (Finger protocol).
  • * 1996 , "Yves Bellefeuille", List of useful freeware'', comp.archives.msdos.d, ''Usenet :
  • PGP mail welcome (finger me for my key).
  • (obsolete) To steal; to purloin.
  • (Shakespeare)
  • To execute, as any delicate work.
  • Synonyms

    * (sexual) fingerbang, fingerfuck

    See also

    * artiodactyl * dactyl * dactylography * dactylology * fingle * macrodactyly * perissodactyl * prestidigitation * pterodactyl

    Anagrams

    * 1000 English basic words ----

    linger

    English

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To stay or remain in a place or situation, especially as if unwilling to depart or not easily able to do so.
  • * 1859 , , A Tale of Two Cities , ch. 15:
  • His tone lingered in the air, almost like the tone of a musical instrument.
  • * 1891 , , "Mrs. Manstey's View":
  • She lingered in the window.
  • * 2011 April 25, Alice Park, " Upgrading the Disaster," Time :
  • It takes into account . . . predictions of how long radioactive contaminants will linger in the soil and water near the nuclear facility.
  • To remain alive or existent although still proceeding toward death or extinction; to die gradually.
  • * 1887 , , The Woodlanders , ch. 14:
  • He lingered through the day, and died that evening as the sun went down.
  • * 1904 , , "Asmund and Signy" in The Brown Fairy Book :
  • During his absence the queen fell ill, and after lingering for some time she died.
  • (often followed by on) To consider or contemplate for a period of time; to engage in analytical thinking or discussion.
  • * 2011 April 14, Michael Scherer, " Trump's Political Reality Show: Will the Donald Really Run for President?," Time :
  • Trump doesn't linger on the poll.

    Derived terms

    * lingerer * linger on