What does "Thumbed Edition" mean?

I found a dictionary that has 2 different editions on Amazon. One of them is called "Thumbed Edition", I don't know its meaning. These two editons have the same content, but slightly different in dimensions.

So, what does "Thumbed Edition" mean? I googled it, but didn't find its definition.

Thank you very much.

The "thumbed edition" probably has cutouts on the side of the book that opens up, and labels for A, B, C, ... Z are pasted into these cutouts.

When you've "thumbed" through the pages of something, it means you've scanned the written material by turning over its pages. Therefore, a "thumbed edition" of a book means it's used. If it's "well-thumbed", then it's probably worn and "dog-eared".

I think I'm going to have to go with Guest's definition on this one. Amazon does not refer to used books as a "thumbed edition"; it calls them "used books".

Does the "Thumbed edition" cost a bit more? If so, it's probably not a used copy.

Moreover, I don't think I've ever seen the word "thumbed" used adjectivally. I might hear of a "well-thumbed book", but not a "thumbed book", unless there is a different meaning of the word "thumb", as we suspect. And a book would never be called a "well-thumbed edition" except as a joke (as if the publishers deliberately published an edition that looked old and used).

- Kef

A thumbed edition of a book has thumb indexes.

http://www.therapybookshop.com/artwork/120073.jpg

Thanks -- here's a case where a picture's worth a thousand words.

Thank you guys.

The "Thumbed Editon" of the dicitonary costs exactly the same as the other editon, and they're all new ones. So I think all the "Guests" and furrykef are right here.

But when I was googling "Thumbed Edition", most of the results are actually "well-thumbed edition". In this case, I think George's definition is right.