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Nail

//neɪl// name, noun, verb, slang

Definitions

Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A surname transferred from the nickname.
Noun
  1. 1
    The thin, horny plate at the ends of fingers and toes on humans and some other animals.

    "When I'm nervous I bite my nails."

  2. 2
    a thin pointed piece of metal that is hammered into materials as a fastener wordnet
  3. 3
    The basal thickened portion of the anterior wings of certain hemiptera.
  4. 4
    horny plate covering and protecting part of the dorsal surface of the digits wordnet
  5. 5
    The terminal horny plate on the beak of ducks, and other allied birds.
Show 5 more definitions
  1. 6
    a former unit of length for cloth equal to 1/16 of a yard wordnet
  2. 7
    The claw of a bird or other animal.
  3. 8
    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.

    "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."

  4. 9
    A round pedestal on which merchants once carried out their business, such as the four nails outside The Exchange, Bristol.
  5. 10
    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).
Verb
  1. 1
    To fix (an object) to another object using a nail. transitive

    "He nailed the placard to the post."

  2. 2
    complete a pass wordnet
  3. 3
    To drive a nail. intransitive

    "He used the ax head for nailing."

  4. 4
    take into custody wordnet
  5. 5
    To stud or boss with nails, or as if with nails. transitive

    "The rivets of their arms were nail'd with gold."

Show 13 more definitions
  1. 6
    attach something somewhere by means of nails wordnet
  2. 7
    To catch. slang

    "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."

  3. 8
    hit with great force wordnet
  4. 9
    To expose as a sham. slang, transitive
  5. 10
    locate exactly wordnet
  6. 11
    To accomplish (a task) completely and successfully. slang, transitive

    "I really nailed that test."

  7. 12
    succeed at easily wordnet
  8. 13
    To hit (a target) effectively with some weapon. slang, transitive

    "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."

  9. 14
    succeed in obtaining a position wordnet
  10. 15
    Of a male, to engage in sexual intercourse with. slang, transitive, vulgar

    "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."

  11. 16
    To spike, as a cannon.

    "That the Ordinance be not nayled, nor the munition fiered."

  12. 17
    To nail down: to make certain, or confirm. transitive
  13. 18
    To steal. obsolete, slang, transitive

    "Loud was the laughter at this and other remarks about nailing "stooks" (silk pocket handkerchiefs), "clouts" (cotton ditto), german sausages, &c."

Etymology

Etymology 1

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).

Etymology 2

From Middle English naylen, from Old English næġlan.

Etymology 3

From nail, hence a metonymic occupational surname for a maker of nails, or a nickname for a tall and slender person.

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