suck out of one's thumb en · VERB
Etymology
Calque of Afrikaans uit sy duim suig, from Dutch uit zijn duim zuigen.
Meanings
-
(South-Africa, informal, transitive) To make up, to fabricate, to pull out of one's ass.
1956, Debates of the House of Assembly (Hansard), Vol. 90/91/92, page 2185. One cannot lay a charge, a charge which has simply been sucked out of one's thumb, and then say that the onus rests on the person against whom the charge has been made, to prove that it is not so.
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| sucking out of one's thumb | Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Part | lexicographic | |
| sucked out of one's thumb | Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part | lexicographic | |
| sucked out of one's thumb | Tense=Past | lexicographic | |
| sucks out of one's thumb | Number=Sing, Person=3, Tense=Pres | lexicographic |