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Dictionary of Phrase and Fable—W

Wet Finger

(With a), easily, directly. “D'un tour de main. ”The allusion is to the old custom of spinning, in which the spinner constantly wetted the fore-finger with the mouth.

“I can bring myself round with a wet finger.” — Sir W. Scott: Redgauntlet, chap. xxiii. (and in many other places).

“The spirit being grieved and provoked. ... will not return again with a wet finger.” — Gouge: Whole Armour of God, p. 458 (1616).

I can find
One with a wet finger that is stark blind.

Trial of Love and Fortune (1598). Flores. “Canst thou bring me thither? Peasant. With a wet finger.”

Wisdom of Dr. Dodypoll (1600).

Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
Wetherell
Wet-bob
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