"thumb on the scale" meaning in English

{
  "etymology_text": "An allusion to a butcher who cheats customers by surreptitiously using a thumb to apply extra pressure to the scale when weighing meat to calculate the price of a sale.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "thumbs on the scale",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "thumbs on the scales",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "-",
        "2": "thumbs on the scale",
        "3": "thumbs on the scales"
      },
      "expansion": "thumb on the scale (usually uncountable, plural thumbs on the scale or thumbs on the scales)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1982, Emory A. Griffin, Getting Together, page 68",
          "text": "I'll try to give an impartial account without putting my thumb on the scale.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1991, Deborah L. Rhode, Justice and Gender, page 187",
          "text": "[E]ven to characterize these cases as affirmative action is misleading. What critics often present as a thumb on the scale for \"less qualified\" individuals may in fact reflect only necessary adjustments in the way the scale is calibrated.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2009 June 23, “China and US head for trade war”, in Guardian, UK, retrieved 2015-11-01",
          "text": "Ron Kirk, the US trade representative, accused Beijing of putting a \"giant thumb on the scale\" by restricting exports of commodities including silicon, coke and zinc, to give Chinese manufacturers an unfair advantage.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2014 October 22, Derek Willis, “‘Soft on Crime’ TV Ads Affect Judges’ Decisions, Not Just Elections”, in New York Times, retrieved 2015-11-01",
          "text": "The data show that the television campaign ads this money buys put a thumb on the scale in criminal cases, and undermine the promise of equal justice.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "An act of bias or a tactic for cheating which creates a situation that unfairly benefits one party involved in an interaction."
      ],
      "id": "en-thumb_on_the_scale-en-noun-oL1PkKeL",
      "links": [
        [
          "act",
          "act"
        ],
        [
          "bias",
          "bias"
        ],
        [
          "tactic",
          "tactic"
        ],
        [
          "cheating",
          "cheating"
        ],
        [
          "unfair",
          "unfair"
        ],
        [
          "benefit",
          "benefit"
        ],
        [
          "interaction",
          "interaction"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) An act of bias or a tactic for cheating which creates a situation that unfairly benefits one party involved in an interaction."
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "word": "tip the scales"
        }
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "thumb on the scales"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic",
        "uncountable",
        "usually"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-thumb on the scale.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/3/30/En-au-thumb_on_the_scale.ogg/En-au-thumb_on_the_scale.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/30/En-au-thumb_on_the_scale.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "word": "thumb on the scale"
}

{
  "etymology_text": "An allusion to a butcher who cheats customers by surreptitiously using a thumb to apply extra pressure to the scale when weighing meat to calculate the price of a sale.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "thumbs on the scale",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "thumbs on the scales",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "-",
        "2": "thumbs on the scale",
        "3": "thumbs on the scales"
      },
      "expansion": "thumb on the scale (usually uncountable, plural thumbs on the scale or thumbs on the scales)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "tip the scales"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English countable nouns",
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English idioms",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English nouns",
        "English terms with audio links",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English uncountable nouns"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1982, Emory A. Griffin, Getting Together, page 68",
          "text": "I'll try to give an impartial account without putting my thumb on the scale.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1991, Deborah L. Rhode, Justice and Gender, page 187",
          "text": "[E]ven to characterize these cases as affirmative action is misleading. What critics often present as a thumb on the scale for \"less qualified\" individuals may in fact reflect only necessary adjustments in the way the scale is calibrated.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2009 June 23, “China and US head for trade war”, in Guardian, UK, retrieved 2015-11-01",
          "text": "Ron Kirk, the US trade representative, accused Beijing of putting a \"giant thumb on the scale\" by restricting exports of commodities including silicon, coke and zinc, to give Chinese manufacturers an unfair advantage.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2014 October 22, Derek Willis, “‘Soft on Crime’ TV Ads Affect Judges’ Decisions, Not Just Elections”, in New York Times, retrieved 2015-11-01",
          "text": "The data show that the television campaign ads this money buys put a thumb on the scale in criminal cases, and undermine the promise of equal justice.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "An act of bias or a tactic for cheating which creates a situation that unfairly benefits one party involved in an interaction."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "act",
          "act"
        ],
        [
          "bias",
          "bias"
        ],
        [
          "tactic",
          "tactic"
        ],
        [
          "cheating",
          "cheating"
        ],
        [
          "unfair",
          "unfair"
        ],
        [
          "benefit",
          "benefit"
        ],
        [
          "interaction",
          "interaction"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) An act of bias or a tactic for cheating which creates a situation that unfairly benefits one party involved in an interaction."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic",
        "uncountable",
        "usually"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-thumb on the scale.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/3/30/En-au-thumb_on_the_scale.ogg/En-au-thumb_on_the_scale.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/30/En-au-thumb_on_the_scale.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "thumb on the scales"
    }
  ],
  "word": "thumb on the scale"
}