Word.ws English Dictionary

one-finger salute

one-finger salute noun: the obscene gesture made by holding only the middle finger of a hand erect while the rest of the fingers are in a fist.

Noun

one-finger salute (plural one-finger salutes)

  1. The obscene gesture made by holding only the middle finger of a hand erect while the rest of the fingers are in a fist.
    • The troops […] gave them back the old one-finger salute of the clenched fist jabbing the stiff middle finger into the air.1951, James Jones, From Here to Eternity, Scribner(1951), page 761; also Delta (1998), page 754
    • When the inning ended, Ted leaped into the air and delivered the classic one-finger salute to the booing crowd.1985, Bruce Nash, Allan Zullo, The Baseball Hall of Shame, Simon and Schuster, published 1989, →ISBN, page 160

Verb

one-finger salute (third-person singular simple present one-finger salutes, present participle one-finger saluting, simple past and past participle one-finger saluted)

  1. (rare) To give a one-finger salute.
    • I've one finger saluted life before.2004 February 19, Brent Wiescamp, 'Re: Things That Make You Go "Hmmm"', alt.sports.football.pro.denver-broncos, Usenet

Examples of one-finger salute in a sentence

  • You swear and give them the old one-finger salute.1997, Gene Amole, "Put Water Bag On Front Bumper", in Rocky Mountain News, 24 June 1997, reprinted in Amole One More Time, Big Earth...
  • Painted on one: destroy this memory. ¶ On another, a homeowner has painted a one-finger salute to Allstate.2005, Chris Rose, 1 Dead in Attic: After Katrina, Simon and Schuster, published 2007, →ISBN, page 185:

Synonyms of one-finger salute

Forms of one-finger salute

Noun
pluralone-finger salutes
alternative formone-fingered salute
alternative formone finger salute
alternative formone fingered salute
Verb
third-person singular presentone-finger salutes
present participleone-finger saluting
past participleone-finger saluted
pastone-finger saluted

Questions about one-finger salute

What does one-finger salute mean?
One-finger salute means the obscene gesture made by holding only the middle finger of a hand erect while the rest of the fingers are in a fist.
How do you use one-finger salute in a sentence?
You swear and give them the old one-finger salute.
What part of speech is one-finger salute?
One-finger salute can be a noun or a verb.
What is the plural of one-finger salute?
The plural of one-finger salute is one-finger salutes.

Words near one-finger salute in the dictionary

  1. one-eyed snake
  2. one-eyed snakes
  3. one-eyed trouser snake
  4. one-eyed trouser snakes
  5. one-fifth
  6. one-finger salute
  7. one-finger saluted
  8. one-finger salutes
  9. one-finger saluting
  10. one-fingered salute
  11. one-fingered salutes

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: one-finger salute (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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