least finger

English

Etymology

From Middle English leste finguer, lest fynger, lest fyngyr, from Old English lǣst finger.

Noun

least finger (plural least fingers)

1. Synonym of little finger.
   • 1858 September, H. A. P., “Rings”, in Richard C[unningham] McCormick, editor, The Young Men’s Magazine, volume II, number 5, New York, N.Y.: N. A. Calkins, […], published 1859, page 216:

     But, both on account of convenience and long established custom, the left hand is generally considered the ring hand—and the least finger of that hand holds the ring.

   • 1916, “Musculospiral Paralysis Due to Ancient Compound Fracture of Humerus—Tendon-transference (Flexor Carpi Radialis to Extensors of Digits)”, in P[enn-]G[askell] Skillern, Jr., editor, The Clinics of John B[enjamin] Murphy, M.D., at Mercy Hospital, Chicago, volume V, Philadelphia, Pa., London: W[alter] B[urns] Saunders Company, →OCLC, page 291:

     There will thus be encountered in order the tendons of the extensor pollicis brevis, extensor pollicis longus, the two tendons of the index, that of the middle, that of the ring, and the two tendons of the least finger: […]

   • 2002, Nick Tosches, In the Hand of Dante, Boston, Mass.: Little, Brown and Company, →ISBN, page 248:

     But here, confronting God, one could not but be struck as if by lightning, for here, from the heavens of the presbytery, bursting the bounds of human comprehension of all that was holy, came forth, bold as the unimaginable first fire of light of the world’s unimaginable first dawn, the hand of the Creator, clenched save for index finger and least finger, which were extended outright and straight in the sign of la mano cornuta.

References

• “least finger, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.