hobnail

noun, verb — 4 senses

hobnail

noun

Etymology From hob + nail. The oldest attestation is in William Shakespeare, but he likely did not coin the term.

1

A short nail with a thick head, typically used in boot soles.

2

Obsolete A yokel; a rustic.

  • 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.1645 March 14 (Gregorian calendar), J[ohn] M[ilton], Colasterion: A Reply to a Nameles Answer against The Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce. […], [London?]: [s.n.], →OCLC:
  • There lay Tom; hobnail Tom! a bacon-munching, reckless, beer-swilling animal! and yet a man …1859, George Meredith, chapter 9, in The Ordeal of Richard Feverel. A History of Father and Son. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Chapman and Hall, →OCLC:
Derived terms
hobnail boot, hobnailer, hobnail liver
Coordinate terms
blakey, seg, shoe protector

hobnail

verb

Etymology From hob + nail. The oldest attestation is in William Shakespeare, but he likely did not coin the term.

1

To fit with hobnails.

  • a machine for the hobnailing of shoes
2

Archaic To tread down roughly, as with hobnailed shoes.

  • Your rights and charters hobnailed into slush.1875, Tennyson, Queen Mary:

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.

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