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).
The horny plate or appendage at the ends of the digits of various animals, including most reptiles, birds, and mammals (both nonhuman and human).
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Often, Specifically The thin, flat type of such a plate on the fingers and toes of humans, chimpanzees and some other primates.
When I'm nervous I bite my nails.
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The basal thickened portion of the anterior wings of certain hemiptera.
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The terminal horny plate on the beak of ducks and other allied birds.
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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.1879, R[ichard] J[efferies], chapter II, in The Amateur Poacher, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], →OCLC:
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A round pedestal on which merchants once carried out their business, such as the four nails outside The Exchange, Bristol.
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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).
To fix (an object) to another object using a nail.
He nailed the placard to the post.
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To drive a nail.
He used the ax head for nailing.
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To stud or boss with nails, or as if with nails.
The rivets of their arms were nail'd with gold.1700, [John] Dryden, “The Flower and the Leaf: Or, The Lady in the Arbour. A Vision.”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:
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.1765, “A Song in High Life”, in The Merry Medley, volume 1, London: W. Hoggard, page 35:
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.1943 October 9, The Australian Women's Weekly, page 3, column 4:
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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.1993, Peter M. Lenkov, Robert Reneau, Daniel Waters, Demolition Man, spoken by Captain Healy (Steve Kahan):
we'll nail the sophist to it, if we can get him on that charge;2005, Lesley, transl. Brown, Sophist, 261a, translation of original by Plato:
Slang To accomplish (a task) completely and successfully.
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”.2023 July 6, Dan Milmo, quoting Mark Zuckerberg, “Zuckerberg uses Threads to say Twitter has missed its chance”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:
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Slang To hit (a target) effectively with some weapon.
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.2011 October 1, Tom Fordyce, “Rugby World Cup 2011: England 16-12 Scotland”, in BBC Sport:
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Slang, Vulgar Of a male, to engage in sexual intercourse with.
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.1985, John Hughes, The Breakfast Club (motion picture):
There’s a benefit gala at the Boston Pops tonight, and... well, I’m trying to nail the flautist.1999, Neil Goldman, Garrett Donovan, “Da Boom”, in Family Guy, season 2, episode 3, spoken by Brian Griffin (Seth MacFarlane):
Loud was the laughter at this and other remarks about nailing "stooks" (silk pocket handkerchiefs), "clouts" (cotton ditto), german sausages, &c.1866, Temple Bar, volume 16, page 507:
Wikipedia disambiguation page on both meanings of nail, Wikipedia disambiguation page on spike, Nail in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)