Word.ws English Dictionary

thumb a lift

thumb a lift verb: to hitchhike.

Verb

thumb a lift (third-person singular simple present thumbs a lift, present participle thumbing a lift, simple past and past participle thumbed a lift)

  1. (UK, intransitive) To hitchhike.
    Synonyms:
    hitch a ride, thumb a ride, hitchhike, hitch-hike

Synonyms of thumb a lift

Forms of thumb a lift

third-person singular presentthumbs a lift
present participlethumbing a lift
past participlethumbed a lift
pastthumbed a lift

Origin of thumb a lift

In reference to the thumb gesture used to request a ride.

Questions about thumb a lift

What does thumb a lift mean?
Thumb a lift means to hitchhike.
What part of speech is thumb a lift?
Thumb a lift is a verb.
What is the past tense of thumb a lift?
The past tense of thumb a lift is thumbed a lift.

Words near thumb a lift in the dictionary

  1. Thuls
  2. thulur
  3. thuluth
  4. Thum
  5. thumb
  6. thumb a lift
  7. thumb a ride
  8. thumb blue
  9. thumb buster
  10. thumb down
  11. thumb drive

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: thumb a lift (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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Cite this entry: “thumb a lift.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/thumb_a_lift. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.