thimbleful
(ˈθɪmb(ə)lfʊl)
[f. thimble + -ful.]
As much as a thimble will hold; hence, a small quantity, esp. of wine or spirits; a dram; also fig. of something immaterial.
| 1607 Markham Caval. ii. (1617) 120 Take halfe a thimble⁓ful of Gunpowder. 1622 Mabbe tr. Aleman's Guzman d'Alf. i. 23 By eating by ounces, and drinking by thimble⁓fuls, they liue by drams. 1760 Foote Minor i. Wks. 1799 I. 248 Wou'd you take another thimbleful, Mrs. Cole? 1789 Wolcott (P. Pindar) Expost. Odes xi, Now can't I give a thimblefull of Praise. 1889 Jessopp Coming of Friars ii. 93 Cordials were..on special occasions dealt out in thimble⁓fuls. 1894 Helen M. Gougar in Voice (N.Y.) 31 May, Anybody with a thimbleful of political or reform sense knows. |