# What does ‘give the thumbs up’ mean?

To “give the thumbs up” means to approve or endorse. Brewer's discusses the Roman arena gesture (with its actual meaning long debated by scholars); the modern positive sense is a 20th-century convention.

## What it means

- Brewer's discusses the Roman arena gesture (with its actual meaning long debated by scholars); the modern positive sense is a 20th-century convention.

## Action steps

1. Everyday sign of approval, spoken or gestured.
2. Example: The manager gave the design the thumbs up.

## Sources

- [Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898) — Internet Archive scan](https://archive.org/details/brewers-dictionary-of-phrase-and-fable)

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