Choose the correct meaning of idiom: To bite one’s thumb at someone
- (a)To mock one’s own pride
- (b)To insult someone contemptuously
- (c)To offer false flattery
- (d)To express internal fear
Answer
Why
Correct — B. To bite one's thumb at someone is to make an insulting gesture of contempt at them. The word at aims it outward, at another person.
The keyed meaning, to insult someone contemptuously, says exactly that → option (b).
The gesture appears in Romeo and Juliet, Act 1, Scene 1. The Capulet servant Sampson bites his thumb at the Montague servants to start a quarrel.
Why the others are wrong
- (a)To mock one’s own pride — One's own is the slip. The gesture is aimed at someone else, the someone in the idiom, not at the pride of the person making it.
- (c)To offer false flattery — False flattery praises insincerely in order to please. Biting one's thumb does the reverse: it insults openly and pleases no one.
- (d)To express internal fear — Internal fear stays inside, while the gesture is outward and aggressive. In Romeo and Juliet it is used to provoke a fight, not to show fright.
Concept
An idiom item tests the fixed meaning of a phrase. Here the phrase describes an old insulting gesture, and at shows it is aimed at another person.
In Romeo and Juliet, Act 1, Scene 1, Sampson says he will bite his thumb at the Montague men, which is disgrace to them if they bear it. Abram asks, Do you bite your thumb at us, sir? and the street fight follows.
Option (a) is the closest lure because it keeps the mockery. It turns the mockery back on the speaker's own pride, and the idiom's at someone rules that out.
Key facts
- To bite one's thumb at someone is to make an insulting gesture of contempt at them.
- In Romeo and Juliet, Act 1, Scene 1, the Capulet servant Sampson bites his thumb at the Montague servants.
- Sampson calls the gesture disgrace to them if they bear it.
Study next
Common traps
- Picking To mock one's own pride because it contains mockery, missing that the insult is aimed at someone else
- Guessing fear or nervousness from the image of biting, as in biting one's nails
The same attitude is tested in reverse at 25 Sep 2024, 16:00, English Q.17: treated her with contempt is to be replaced by an idiom, keyed Turned up their nose at her.
The stem Choose the correct meaning of idiom is also used at 16 Sep 2025, 09:00, English Q.3, on Eat humble pie, keyed To accept insult or defeat gracefully.
Related PYQs
No directly related past PYQ was found.