![]() According to Phrasefinder, "The phrase joins the whole nine yards as one that probably derives from some form of measurement but which is unlikely ever to be definitively pinned down". Indeed, the expression 'sixteen nails make a yard' seems to point to the thumb-nail as a standard" and that "Countrymen always measure by their thumb". He says that "Ladies often measure yard lengths by their thumb. Ebenezer Cobham Brewer writes that rule of thumb means a "rough measurement". The thumb has also been used in brewing beer, to gauge the heat of the brewing vat. Historically, the width of the thumb, or "thumb's breadth", was used as the equivalent of an inch in the cloth trade similar expressions existed in Latin and French as well. ![]() James Kelly's The Complete Collection of Scottish Proverbs, 1721, includes: "No Rule so good as Rule of Thumb, if it hit", meaning a practical approximation. ![]() The phrase is also found in Sir William Hope's The Compleat Fencing Master, 1692: "What he doth, he doth by rule of Thumb, and not by Art". Its earliest (1685) appearance in print comes from a posthumously published collection of sermons by Scottish preacher James Durham: "Many profest Christians are like to foolish builders, who build by guess, and by rule of thumb (as we use to speak), and not by Square and Rule". The exact origin of the phrase is uncertain. In English, rule of thumb refers to an approximate method for doing something, based on practical experience rather than theory.
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