miller's thumb

1. The European bullhead.
   • 1599, [Thomas] Nashe, Nashes Lenten Stuffe, […], London: Printed [by Thomas Judson and Valentine Simmes] for N[icholas] L[ing] and C[uthbert] B[urby] […], OCLC 228714942 ↗; reprinted Menston, West Yorkshire: The Scolar Press, 1971, →ISBN, page 1 ↗:

     [I]n my exile and irkeſome diſcontented abandonment, the ſillieſt millers thombe, or contemptible ſtickle-banck of my enemies, is as buſie nibbling about my fame, as if I were a deade man throwne amongeſt them to feede vpon.