English

Alternative forms

• one-fingered salute (noun)
• one finger salute
• one fingered salute

Noun

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 978-0-385-33364-1, 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 and Allan Zullo, The Baseball Hall of Shame, Simon and Schuster (1989), ISBN 978-0-671-68766-3, 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 978-1-55566-217-2, page 236:

     They honk, point and whistle. You swear and give them the old one-finger salute.

   • 2002 September 11, "Say!What?" (username), "Re: What Would You Do?", misc.transport.trucking, 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 (2007), ISBN 978-1-4165-5298-7, page 185:

     Painted on one: destroy this memory. ¶ On another, a homeowner has painted a one-finger salute to Allstate.

Related terms

• give the finger

See also

• up yours
• V sign