What does this even mean?

[u/Personal-Aerie-4519]

[u/warpedspoon]

She felt the fabric and was envious that she didn’t own it

[u/Personal-Aerie-4519 → u/warpedspoon]

Is "fingering" something a common way to say to feel something? I have never heard this word outside of sexual context

[u/Affectionate_Fee6939 → u/Personal-Aerie-4519]

It's less common now that fingering has taken on a more sexual connotation, but in a literary context it isn't strange. You're right, though - these days it is pretty uncommon to use finger as a verb outside of sexual context in casual speech.

[u/Bubble_Cheetah → u/Affectionate_Fee6939]

It is unfortunate that people are afraid to use words like this because of their newer sexual contexts. Because I feel that fingering implies more agitation than just feeling the fabric. Like you can just run your hand over the fabric to feel it. Fingering I imagine the person to be gently twisting the fabric around their fingers, or rubbing the fabric between their fingers or something.

[u/RedditBeginAgain → u/Personal-Aerie-4519]

Like a lot of words with a sexual meaning, the non-sexual use has gotten less popular. People tend to avoid phrases that, although perfectly valid, will make teenagers giggle and lose concentration.

It's a legitimate phrase, but you absolutely would not use it if you were a school teacher. You probably would avoid it amoung young adults.

[u/pot-bitch → u/RedditBeginAgain]

I know the word but I would never use it. I guess I'm the immature one. I'm 35.

[u/Icy_Gap_9067 → u/pot-bitch]

I've recently learned to crochet and there are different thicknesses of wool, thin wool is called fingering weight. I giggle every time someone says it and I'm 43.

[u/toumingjiao1 → u/RedditBeginAgain]

It reminds me that when I was trying to find a proper term for "shuttlecock" without making my landlord's teenage kid laughing. I failed.

[u/RedditBeginAgain → u/toumingjiao1]

Middle school teachers avoid the word "but" and the numbers 69 and 67. You have to cater to your audience, even if your audience is idiots.

[u/ephemeriides → u/RedditBeginAgain]

Oh boy. Let me introduce you to fingering weight yarn and, even better, the (now defunct) brand that specializes in it: Fannie’s Fingering.

[u/BowlComprehensive907 → u/Personal-Aerie-4519]

It's also used a lot in playing musical instruments i think.

[u/WingedLady → u/BowlComprehensive907]

Yes, in musical instruments the "fingering" would be how you arrange your fingers to play different notes. I played like 20 years ago but I'd bet people still use the term. We giggled about it then but ultimately it was just a joke tacked onto a technical word.

Same thing with "tonguing".

[u/NetflixAndMunch → u/WingedLady]

I play the french horn, where you stick one hand in the bell. When learning to play, there's a lot of tonguing and make sure you are curling you fingers in the hole.

[u/Snuffls → u/Personal-Aerie-4519]

It's rare but correct. Another non-sexual use of "fingered" is accusation/identification in a criminal context; "the detective fingered Alex Dahl as the murderer."

[u/Gustav55 → u/Personal-Aerie-4519]

Yes but not so common anymore, it's a bit old fashioned.

[u/turquoise_amethyst → u/Personal-Aerie-4519]

Yes, occasionally. 

An example would be the slang term “five finger discount”, which means to shoplift

Also I guess you could “she fingered a curl” which would mean to fidget with one’s hair 

[u/EvokeNZ → u/turquoise_amethyst]

Also fat fingered for typo

[u/Winderige_Garnaal → u/Personal-Aerie-4519]

What the other people said is true, and also keep in mind this is a literary tone; it's metaphoric, playing with language, striking a tone. You wouldn't say this in like normal situations

[u/Nondescript_Redditor → u/Personal-Aerie-4519]

it means touching with fingers

[u/Aardvark_Warrior → u/Personal-Aerie-4519]

As it is "covetous" is commonly understood but archaic, which is probably why its use example is as well. More common to see just plain coveting. I don't know for sure but I would imagine fingering once lacked sexual implications.

[u/ZumLernen]

To covet means to desire, usually to desire something that you're not allowed to have. Similar to envy.

Covetous means that it seems like the thing is coveting something. The narrator is telling us that her hands displayed her desire, possibly illicit greed, for the linen.

Covetous is a rarely used word and I would reckon that some native speakers would never have used it. I may have used it at some point but I cannot think of any specific time I have used it. (I am a native speaker of US English)

[u/ExitingBear → u/ZumLernen]

Adding - the place that someone is most likely to hear or use "covet" or "coveting" or "covetous" is in a religious context (depending on how you count, one or two of the 10 commandments are anti-coveting). Using that particular word really emphasizes that the person is doing something wrong and sinful.

[u/Front-Pomelo-4367]

She rubbed the linen between her fingers in a way that suggested she wanted it

[u/Personal-Aerie-4519 → u/Front-Pomelo-4367]

does linen mean clothing in this case?

[u/Sweet-Energy-9515 → u/Personal-Aerie-4519]

Linen is the fabric. Without more context we don't know if it's clothing or like a tablecloth or something.

[u/Boundlessintime → u/Personal-Aerie-4519]

It's a type of cloth

[u/ZumLernen → u/Personal-Aerie-4519]

It could mean either cloth/fabric or clothing.

[u/Mental_Newspaper3812 → u/ZumLernen]

Can it really mean clothing though? I feel like it still refers to the fabric a shirt is made from if she’s fingering the shirt.

[u/ellalir → u/Mental_Newspaper3812]

Linens, plural, can definitely mean, like, household sheets/towels/etc or, historically, underclothes. I don't think I've heard linen, singular, used in those contexts.

[u/Proud-Delivery-621 → u/Personal-Aerie-4519]

Linen is a type of cloth made from flax. In this case it means that whatever cloth she was rubbing was made of linen. It's fairly common in a literary context to use the material of a cloth to refer to the cloth. "Fingering the linen" "feeling the wool" etc.

[u/baxbakualanuxsiwae → u/Personal-Aerie-4519]

Linen sometimes means bedclothes/covers/bedding or other household fabrics like tablecloths, even if it's not actually made of linen. That's what came to mind for me, but it's impossible to know without more context. It could be clothing actually made of linen.

[u/abbot_x → u/baxbakualanuxsiwae]

I think that's only the plural form, "linens," which is used as a collective to refer to household fabrics, especially bedclothes. Singular "linen" refers to the particular fabric.

[u/baxbakualanuxsiwae → u/abbot_x]

The singular is frequently used in the collective sense where I come from at least (England), I'd say more frequently so than "linens".

[u/trivia_guy → u/abbot_x]

Nah, it can totally have that meaning in the singular as well. It’s not as common, but for sure it’s a thing. I checked both MW and Cambridge dictionaries and they give it.

[u/TeamOfPups]

Oh my, this is presented as being old fashioned in tone but it is concurrently quite suggestive phrasing with the fingering and the coveting.

[u/morningstarbee]

She wants that linen so she's toiching it and being sad it's not hers

[u/iceicig]

This is not a phrasing you would use in a normal conversation. That would sound very very very weird. Sexual and creepy if you said that in a regular conversation

[u/eslforchinesespeaker]

When I googled

what does "she fingered the linen with covetous hands" mean?

I got

https://www.google.com/search?q=what+does+%22she+fingered+the+linen+with+covetous+hands%22+mean%3F

AI Overview

"She fingered the linen with covetous hands" means she touched the smooth fabric while feeling a strong, greedy desire to own it for herself.

Word Breakdown
Fingered: She lightly touched or stroked the material with her fingers.

Linen: A type of smooth, high-quality cloth made from flax plant fibers.

Covetous: A strong, envious wish to possess something that belongs to someone else.

What did you get?

[u/davedwtho]

Covetous means jealous.

This is a bad example to teach the definition, but it probably means in context that she is covetous of the linens she is touching because she can’t have them.

Calling her hands covetous rather than the person herself is just a figurative turn of phrase.

[u/Gloomy-Invite-896]

Hands that covet

[u/drachen23]

It's sexual entendre. "Fingered" does mean "touched" but is often used when touching a bodily orifice. "Covetous" means "strongly desiring" but often has a connotation of jealousy or exclusivity. There's nothing explicitly sexual about the words themselves, but here they definitely set a mood. The phrase immediately makes me think it came out of a romance novel.