Hop-o-my-thumb, subs. (common).—A dwarf.
1599. Nashe, Lenten Stuffe, in Wks. v., 248. Though the greatnesse of the redde herring be not small (as small a hoppe-on-my-thumbe as hee seemeth).
1603. Dekker, etc., Patient Grissell, IV., ii., in Wks. (Grosart) vi., 195. Bab. No; he shall not haue them [children]: knocke out his braines, and saue the little hop-a-my-thombes.
1748. Smollett, Rod. Random, ch. xi. You pitiful hop-o’-my-thumb coxcomb.
1764. O’Hara, Midas, i., 5. You Stump-o’-the-gutter, you Hop-o’-my-thumb, A husband must for you from Lilliput come.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Hop-o-my-Thumb. She was such a hop-o-my-thumb that a pigeon, on sitting on her shoulder, might pick a pea out of her a—se.
1821. Scott, Kenilworth, ch. xi. A mean-looking hop-o’-my-thumb sort of person.
1837. Barham, Ingoldsby Legends. ‘Account of a New Play.’ A hop-o’-my-thumb of a Page.
English Synonyms.—Go-by-the-ground; grub; grundy; Jack Sprat; little breeches; shrimp; stump-of-the-gutter; tom-tit. See also, Forty-foot.
Hopper, subs. (colloquial).—The mouth. For synonyms, see Potato-trap.