This picture shows clearly what I'm looking for. Is there a phrase for that?
In French there is a phrase for it, with the French word for finger, "un doigt remuant" Is there any in BrE and in AmE?
EDIT – For Clarity – The person moves his finger up and down, in a threatening way, as if he wanted to touch the other person's nose. Also, he often moves it rhythmically, as he speaks. The only vídeo clip I found about "finger in the face" shows what I'm not looking for. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=peJ2veop1bk
Best Answer
One vivid way to describe the act of moving one's forefinger toward the other person's face is "jabbing [one's] finger." A Google search turns up multiple examples of this usage. From Laura Simon, Dreams of Paradise (1991):
From Diana Dempsey, Falling Star (2002) [combined snippets]:
From Atwater v. City of Lago Vista (2001), quoted in Andrew Taslitz, Reconstructing the Fourth Amendment: A History of Search and Seizure, 1789–1868 (2006):
From Mileikowsky v. Tenet HealthSystem, California Court of Appeal, Second District (April 18, 2005):
From Walter Sorrels, Fake ID (2005) [combined snippets]:
From Jeffrey Feldman, Outright Barbarous: How the Violent Language of the Right Poisons American Democracy (2008) [combined snippets]: