nail

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See also: Nail and n-ail

English

Pronunciation

  • enPR: nāl, IPA(key): /neɪl/, [neɪ̯ɫ]
  • Audio (US):(file)
  • Rhymes: -eɪl

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 Saterland Frisian Nail (“nail”), West Frisian neil, Low German Nagel, Dutch nagel, German Nagel, Danish negl, Swedish nagel), (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).

Noun

The nail (sense 1) of a thumb
A metal nail (fastener; sense 5)

nail (plural nails)

  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. The basal thickened portion of the anterior wings of certain hemiptera.
  3. The terminal horny plate on the beak of ducks, and other allied birds.
  4. The claw of a bird or other animal.
  5. 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.
    • 1879, R[ichard] J[efferies], chapter II, in The Amateur Poacher, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], →OCLC:
      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.
  6. A round pedestal on which merchants once carried out their business, such as the four nails outside The Exchange, Bristol.
  7. 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).
Derived terms
Translations

See also

Etymology 2

From Middle English naylen, from Old English næġlan.

Verb

nail (third-person singular simple present nails, present participle nailing, simple past and past participle nailed)

  1. (transitive) To fix (an object) to another object using a nail.
    Coordinate terms: pin, rivet, screw; see also Thesaurus:join
    He nailed the placard to the post.
  2. (intransitive) To drive a nail.
    Synonym: hammer
    He used the ax head for nailing.
  3. (transitive) To stud or boss with nails, or as if with nails.
  4. (slang) To catch.
    Synonyms: arrest, collar, nick; see also Thesaurus:capture
    • 1765, “A Song in High Life”, in The Merry Medley, volume 1, London: W. Hoggard, page 35:
      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.
    • 1993, Peter M. Lenkov, Robert Reneau, Daniel Waters, Demolition Man, spoken by Captain Healy (Steve Kahan):
      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.
    • 2005, Lesley, transl. Brown, Sophist, 261a, translation of original by Plato:
      we'll nail the sophist to it, if we can get him on that charge;
  5. (transitive, slang) To expose as a sham.
  6. (transitive, slang) To accomplish (a task) completely and successfully.
    Synonyms: ace, fullbring, fulfill
    Antonym: screw
    I really nailed that test.
    • 2023 July 6, Dan Milmo, quoting Mark Zuckerberg, “Zuckerberg uses Threads to say Twitter has missed its chance”, in The Guardian‎[1], →ISSN:
      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”.
  7. (transitive, slang) To hit (a target) effectively with some weapon.
    • 2011 October 1, Tom Fordyce, “Rugby World Cup 2011: England 16-12 Scotland”, in BBC Sport‎[2]:
      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.
  8. (transitive, vulgar, slang) Of a male, to engage in sexual intercourse with.
    Synonyms: dick, pound, rail, screw; see also Thesaurus:copulate with
    • 1985, John Hughes, The Breakfast Club (motion picture):
      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.
    • 1999, Neil Goldman, Garrett Donovan, “Da Boom”, in Family Guy, season 2, episode 3, spoken by Brian Griffin (Seth MacFarlane):
      There’s a benefit gala at the Boston Pops tonight, and... well, I’m trying to nail the flautist.
  9. (military) To spike, as a cannon.
    • 1598, Robert Barret, he Theorike and Practike of Modern Warres:
      That the Ordinance be not nayled, nor the munition fiered.
  10. (transitive) To nail down: to make certain, or confirm.
    Synonyms: clinch, fix, lock down, pin down
Derived terms
Translations

See also

Anagrams

Bouyei

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

Noun

nail

  1. grandmother

Etymology 2

Noun

nail

  1. snow
  2. ice

Middle English

Noun

nail

  1. Alternative form of nayl

Vietnamese

Etymology

English nail.

Pronunciation

Noun

nail

  1. nailcare
    làm nail ― perform nailcare
    nghề nail ― nailcare as a profession
    • 2022, T.TH, “Kình ngư Nguyễn Hữu Kim Sơn chọn ĐH Duy Tân làm bến đỗ”, in Tuổi trẻ online‎[3]:
      Hiện tại ba em đang quản lý một nhà hàng cùng một tiệm nail khá lớn ở Mỹ, do chính ba mở ra.
      My father currently manages a restaurant and a rather large nail salon in America, which he opened himself.

Welsh

Pronunciation

Noun

nail

  1. Nasal mutation of dail.

Mutation

Welsh mutation
radical soft nasal aspirate
dail ddail nail unchanged
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.
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