Hobnail
noun, verb ·2 syllables ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A short nail with a thick head, typically used in boot soles.
- 2 a short nail with a thick head; used to protect the soles of boots wordnet
- 3 A yokel; a rustic. obsolete
"Next, the word Politician is not us'd to his maw, and therupon he plays the most notorious hobbihors, jesting and frisking in the luxury of his non-sense with such poor fetches to cog a laughter from us, that no antic hobnaile at a Morris, but is more hansomly facetious."
- 1 To fit with hobnails.
"a machine for the hobnailing of shoes"
- 2 supply with hobnails wordnet
- 3 To tread down roughly, as with hobnailed shoes. archaic, transitive
"Your rights and charters hobnailed into slush."
Example
More examples"Next, the word Politician is not us'd to his maw, and therupon he plays the most notorious hobbihors, jesting and frisking in the luxury of his non-sense with such poor fetches to cog a laughter from us, that no antic hobnaile at a Morris, but is more hansomly facetious."
Etymology
From hob + nail. The oldest attestation is in William Shakespeare, but he likely did not coin the term.
Related phrases
More for "hobnail"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.