nail
Part of speech: noun
verb
Morphological type: simple
Topics: government
military
politics
war
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, German and Low German Nagel, Dutch and Swedish nagel, Danish and Norwegian Bokmål negl, Norwegian Nynorsk nagl, 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).
Inflected forms:
form: nails
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: nails
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: nailing
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: nailed
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: nailed
pos: verb
tags: past
Senses:
gloss: The thin, horny plate at the ends of fingers and toes on humans and some other animals.
pos: noun
examples: When I'm nervous I bite my nails.
gloss: The basal thickened portion of the anterior wings of certain hemiptera.
pos: noun
gloss: The terminal horny plate on the beak of ducks, and other allied birds.
pos: noun
gloss: The claw of a bird or other animal.
pos: noun
gloss: 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.
pos: noun
examples: 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.
gloss: A round pedestal on which merchants once carried out their business, such as the four nails outside The Exchange, Bristol.
pos: noun
gloss: 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).
pos: noun
gloss: To fix (an object) to another object using a nail.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: He nailed the placard to the post.
gloss: To drive a nail.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: He used the ax head for nailing.
gloss: To stud or boss with nails, or as if with nails.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: The rivets of their arms were nail'd with gold.
gloss: To catch.
pos: verb
tags: slang
examples: I pray you now send me some dub, / A bottle or two to the needy. / I beg you won't bring it yourself, / The harman is at the Old-Bailey; / I'd rather you'd send it behalf, / For, if they twig you they'll nail you.
Military Intelligence seems to be on the spot in a quiet sort of way. I just met a G-2 slue-foot and he was a most efficient guy! They're keeping low, I think, until they nail their man.
Dammit, John, I'm tired of this 'Demolition Man' stuff! […] Now, I know you've been trying to nail this psycho for two years, but try remembering a little thing called official police procedure.
we'll nail the sophist to it, if we can get him on that charge;
gloss: To expose as a sham.
pos: verb
tags: slang
transitive
gloss: To accomplish (a task) completely and successfully.
pos: verb
tags: slang
transitive
examples: I really nailed that test.
The chief executive and founder of Meta used his new Threads account to say Twitter had not “nailed” its opportunity to become a mega app and that his copycat version would be “focusing on kindness”.
gloss: To hit (a target) effectively with some weapon.
pos: verb
tags: slang
transitive
examples: Fly-half Ruaridh Jackson departed early with injury but Chris Paterson nailed a penalty from wide out left to give Scotland an early lead, and Jackson's replacement Dan Parks added three more points with a penalty which skimmed over the crossbar.
gloss: Of a male, to engage in sexual intercourse with.
pos: verb
tags: slang
transitive
vulgar
examples: Allison Reynolds: I'm a nymphomaniac. […] The only person I told was my shrink. / Andrew Clark: And what did he do when you told him? / Allison Reynolds: He nailed me.
There’s a benefit gala at the Boston Pops tonight, and... well, I’m trying to nail the flautist.
gloss: To spike, as a cannon.
pos: verb
examples: That the Ordinance be not nayled, nor the munition fiered.
gloss: To nail down: to make certain, or confirm.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
gloss: To steal.
pos: verb
tags: obsolete
slang
transitive
examples: Loud was the laughter at this and other remarks about nailing "stooks" (silk pocket handkerchiefs), "clouts" (cotton ditto), german sausages, &c.
Related words: claw
talon
Wikipedia disambiguation page on both meanings of nail
Wikipedia disambiguation page on spike
Nail in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)
Derived words: another nail in someone's coffin
another nail in the coffin
bed of nails
better than a poke in the eye with a rusty nail
bite one's nails
brass nail
bright nail
bullen-nail
casing nail
chew on one's nails
clout-nail
clout nail
coffin nail
common nail
cut nail
denail
door-nail
door nail
doornail
drive a nail in someone's coffin
drive a nail where it will go
dumb as nails
duplex nail
eightpenny nail
eight-penny nail
eight penny nail
final nail in the coffin
fingernail
finger nail
finish nail
footnail
fourpenny nail
four-penny nail
four penny nail
frost-nail
frost nail
garden nail
gimp nail
green nail syndrome
hand-nail
handnail
hangnail
hard as nails
hard nail
hit the nail on the head
hobnail
horsenail
horse-nail
horseshoe nail
jolt head nail
Küntscher nail
last nail in the coffin
lath nail
mad enough to chew nails
misnail
nailable
nail ball
nail bar
nail bat
nail bed
nailbed
nail-biter
nail biter
nail-biting
nailbiting
nail biting
nail bomb
nailbrush
nailcare
nail clipper
nailclipping
nail cutter
nail enamel
nailer
nailery
nailfast
nail file
nail-file
nailfile
nailfold
nailful
nail fungus
nail gun
nailhead
nail-headed
nail header
nail house
nail in one's coffin
nailist
nail knot
nail lacquer
nailless
naillike
nail-making
nail-patella syndrome
nail plate
nail polish
nail-polished
nailprint
nailproof
nail puller
nail punch
nail rod
nail salon
nail scissors
nail set
nailset
nailshop
nail sick
nail sickness
nailsmith
nails on a chalkboard
nail-tail wallaby
nail technician
nail trimmer
nail varnish
nail violin
nailwort
naily
one nail drives out another
on the nail
PK nail
renail
roofing nail
rose nail
rother nail
rusty nail
sandpapered nails
screw nail
scupper nail
shell nail syndrome
sinker nail
six-penny nail
six penny nail
sixpenny nail
sixteen-penny nail
sixteen penny nail
sixteenpenny nail
soil nail
spignel
spikenail
spit nails
squint like a bag of nails
straw nail
street nail
stub nail
tenpenny nail
ten penny nail
ten-penny nail
the nail that sticks out gets hammered down
thumbnail
toenail
tooth and nail syndrome
tooth and nail
tooth-and-nail
tough as nails
treenail
twelvepenny nail
twelve-penny nail
twelve penny nail
twenty-nail dystrophy
unnail
yellow nail syndrome
nail it
nail Jell-O to a tree
nail Jell-O to a wall
nail jelly to a wall
nail one's colors to the mast
nail one's colours to the mast
nail someone to the wall
nail the hammer on the head
nail to the counter
Translations: