nail
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: enpr: nāl
ipa: /neɪl/
ipa: [neɪ̯ɫ]
rhymes: -eɪl
Forms: form: nails
Etymology: From Middle English nail, nayl, Old English næġl, from Proto-West Germanic *nagl, from Proto-Germanic *naglaz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₃nogʰ- (“nail”).
Cognates
Compare North Frisian Nail (“nail”), Saterland Frisian Nail (“nail”), West Frisian neil, Low German Nagel, Dutch nagel, German Nagel, Danish negl, Swedish nagel, Finnish naula (“nail”), Estonian nael (“nail”), (compare Irish ionga, Latin unguis, Albanian nyell (“ankle, hard part of a limb”), Lithuanian nagas, Russian нога́ (nogá, “foot, leg”), но́готь (nógotʹ, “nail”), Ancient Greek ὄνυξ (ónux), Persian ناخن (nâxon), Sanskrit नख (nakhá).
Senses: examples: text: When I'm nervous I bite my nails.
coordinate_terms: claw
glosses: The thin, horny plate at the ends of fingers and toes on humans and some other animals.
glosses: The basal thickened portion of the anterior wings of certain hemiptera.
glosses: The terminal horny plate on the beak of ducks, and other allied birds.
glosses: The claw of a bird or other animal.
examples: text: Orion hit a rabbit once; but though sore wounded it got to the bury, and, struggling in, the arrow caught the side of the hole and was drawn out. Indeed, a nail filed sharp is not of much avail as an arrowhead; you must have it barbed, and that was a little beyond our skill.
ref: 1879, R[ichard] J[efferies], chapter II, in The Amateur Poacher, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], →OCLC:
glosses: A spike-shaped metal fastener used for joining wood or similar materials. The nail is generally driven through two or more layers of material by means of impacts from a hammer or other device. It is then held in place by friction.
glosses: A round pedestal on which merchants once carried out their business, such as the four nails outside The Exchange, Bristol.
glosses: An archaic English unit of length equivalent to ¹⁄₂₀ of an ell or ¹⁄₁₆ of a yard (2+¹⁄₄ inches or 5.715 cm).
Derived terms: word: another nail in someone's coffin
word: another nail in the coffin
word: bed of nails
word: better than a poke in the eye with a rusty nail
word: bite one's nails
word: brass nail
word: bright nail
word: bullen-nail
word: casing nail
word: chew on one's nails
word: clout-nail
word: clout nail
word: coffin nail
word: common nail
word: cut nail
word: denail
word: door-nail
word: door nail
word: doornail
word: drive a nail in someone's coffin
word: drive a nail where it will go
word: dumb as nails
word: duplex nail
word: eightpenny nail
word: eight-penny nail
word: eight penny nail
word: final nail in the coffin
word: fingernail
word: finger nail
word: finish nail
word: footnail
word: fourpenny nail
word: four-penny nail
word: four penny nail
word: frost-nail
word: frost nail
word: garden nail
word: gimp nail
word: green nail syndrome
word: hand-nail
word: handnail
word: hangnail
word: hard as nails
word: hard nail
word: hit the nail on the head
word: hobnail
word: horsenail
word: horse-nail
word: horseshoe nail
word: jolt head nail
word: Küntscher nail
word: last nail in the coffin
word: lath nail
word: mad enough to chew nails
word: misnail
word: nailable
word: nail ball
word: nail bar
word: nail bat
word: nail bed
word: nailbed
word: nail-biter
word: nail biter
word: nail-biting
word: nailbiting
word: nail biting
word: nailbiting
word: nail bomb
word: nailbrush
word: nailcare
word: nail clipper
word: nailclipping
word: nail cutter
word: nail enamel
word: nailer
word: nailery
word: nailfast
word: nail file
word: nail-file
word: nailfile
word: nailfold
word: nailful
word: nail fungus
word: nail gun
word: nailhead
word: nail-headed
word: nail header
word: nail house
word: nail in one's coffin
word: nailist
word: nail knot
word: nail lacquer
word: nailless
word: naillike
word: nail-making
word: nail-patella syndrome
word: nail plate
word: nail polish
word: nail-polished
word: nailprint
word: nailproof
word: nail puller
word: nail punch
word: nail rod
word: nail salon
word: nail scissors
word: nail set
word: nailset
word: nailshop
word: nail sick
word: nail sickness
word: nailsmith
word: nails on a chalkboard
word: nail-tail wallaby
word: nail technician
word: nail trimmer
word: nail varnish
word: nail violin
word: nailwort
word: naily
word: one nail drives out another
word: on the nail
word: PK nail
word: renail
word: roofing nail
word: rose nail
word: rother nail
word: rusty nail
word: sandpapered nails
word: screw nail
word: scupper nail
word: shell nail syndrome
word: sinker nail
word: six-penny nail
word: six penny nail
word: sixpenny nail
word: sixteen-penny nail
word: sixteen penny nail
word: sixteenpenny nail
word: soil nail
word: spignel
word: spikenail
word: spit nails
word: squint like a bag of nails
word: straw nail
word: street nail
word: stub nail
word: tenpenny nail
word: ten penny nail
word: ten-penny nail
word: the nail that sticks out gets hammered down
word: thumbnail
word: toenail
word: tooth and nail syndrome
word: tooth and nail
word: tooth-and-nail
word: tough as nails
word: treenail
word: twelvepenny nail
word: twelve-penny nail
word: twelve penny nail
word: twenty-nail dystrophy
word: unnail
word: yellow nail syndrome
Related terms: claw
talon