Daumen drehen
to be idle or bored, doing nothing
Türkçe: boş boş oturmak
In a sentence
Der Langeweiler dreht Daumen, während er auf den Bus wartet.
How it is used
Means to be idle or bored, doing nothing. Colloquial. Use when waiting: 'Wir saßen da und haben Daumen gedreht.' Nuance: implies impatience, not relaxation.
Other verbs that go with Daumen
This is the choice the collocation turns on.
- den Daumen hochhaltento give a thumbs up as approval or encouragement
- (am) Daumen lutschento suck his thumb
- über den Daumen peilento estimate roughly without precision
- jdm. die Daumen drückento keep one's fingers crossed for good luck
Other collocations built on drehen
- einen Film drehento shoot a film
- jdn. durch die Mangel drehento put someone through the wringer
- an der Uhr drehen (auch fig.)to adjust the clock
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