one-finger salute

English edit

Alternative forms edit

Noun edit

one-finger salute (plural one-finger salutes)

  1. The obscene gesture made by holding only the middle finger of a hand erect while the rest of the fingers are in a fist.
    • 1951, James Jones, From Here to Eternity, Scribner(1951), page 761; also Delta (1998), →ISBN, page 754:
      The troops [] gave them back the old one-finger salute of the clenched fist jabbing the stiff middle finger into the air.
    • 1985, Bruce Nash, Allan Zullo, The Baseball Hall of Shame, Simon and Schuster, published 1989, →ISBN, page 160:
      When the inning ended, Ted leaped into the air and delivered the classic one-finger salute to the booing crowd.
    • 1997, Gene Amole, "Put Water Bag On Front Bumper", in Rocky Mountain News, 24 June 1997, reprinted in Amole One More Time, Big Earth Publishing (1998), →ISBN, page 236:
      They honk, point and whistle. You swear and give them the old one-finger salute.
    • 2002 September 11, Say!What?, “Re: What Would You Do?”, in misc.transport.trucking[1] (Usenet):
      I think most truckers realize this MAY be 4 wheelers thinking and not resort to one finger salute.
    • 2005, Chris Rose, 1 Dead in Attic: After Katrina, Simon and Schuster, published 2007, →ISBN, page 185:
      Painted on one: destroy this memory. ¶ On another, a homeowner has painted a one-finger salute to Allstate.

Verb edit

one-finger salute (third-person singular simple present one-finger salutes, present participle one-finger saluting, simple past and past participle one-finger saluted)

  1. (rare) To give a one-finger salute.

Synonyms edit

See also edit