From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishthumb through something phrasal verbREADto look through a book, magazine etc quickly I began thumbing through the pages of a gardening catalogue. → thumb→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
thumb through • As a joke I actually bought it for Richard to thumb through.• I was thumbing through that looking for a pizza coupon tonight and said oh.• Indeed, one can thumb through the Bible and find justification for just about anything.• As she thumbs through the catalog, she points to a number of them.• Once again Azadi thumbed through the intelligence report for some inspiration.• But just thumbing through the pages will always be a delightful task.• Inside the booth, he secured the door with his foot and thumbed through the phone book.• Without thumbing through Who's Who?, he's now agreed to read four better-known celebrity faces. 