Nail (unit)

A nail, as a unit of cloth measurement, is generally a sixteenth of a yard or 2¹⁄₄ inches (5.715 cm). The nail was apparently named after the practice of hammering brass nails into the counter at shops where cloth was sold. On the other hand, R D Connor, in The weights and measures of England (p 84) states that the nail was the 16th part of a Roman foot, i.e., digitus or finger, although he provides no reference to support this.Zupko's A dictionary of weights and measures for the British Isles (p 256) states that the nail was originally the distance from the thumbnail to the joint at the base of the thumb, or alternately, from the end of the middle finger to the second joint.

An archaic usage of the term nail is as a sixteenth of a (long) hundredweight for mass, or 1 clove of 7 pound avoirdupois (3.175 kg).

The nail in literature

Thou yard, three-quarters, half-yard, quarter, nail
Thou flea, thou nit, thou winter cricket thou:―
Brav'd in mine own house with a skein of
thread!

Explanation: Katherine and Petruchio are getting married. At the tailor shop, they examine the wedding dress, which is nearly finished. Petruchio is concerned that it has too many frills, wonders what it will cost, and suspects that he has been cheated. Katherine says she likes it, and complains that Petruchio is making a fool of her. The taylor repeats Katherine's words: Sir, she says you're making a fool of her. This is where Petruchio launches into the above-quoted tirade. Monstrous may be a double-entendre for cuckold. The half-yard, quarter and nail were divisions of the yard used in cloth measurement.

Nail (fastener)

In woodworking and construction, a nail is a pin-shaped object of metal (or wood, called a treenail or "trunnel") which is used as a fastener, as a peg to hang something, or sometimes as a decoration. Generally nails have a sharp point on one end and a flattened head on the other, but headless nails are available. Nails are made in a great variety of forms for specialized purposes. The most common is a wire nail. Other types of nails include pins, tacks, brads, and spikes.

Nails are typically driven into the workpiece by a hammer, a pneumatic nail gun, or a small explosive charge or primer. A nail holds materials together by friction in the axial direction and shear strength laterally. The point of the nail is also sometimes bent over or clinched after driving to prevent pulling out.

History

The history of the nail is divided roughly into three distinct periods:

Nail (relic)

Relics that are claimed to be the Holy Nails with which Christ was crucified are objects of veneration among some Christians, i.e., among Catholics and the Eastern Orthodox. In Christian symbolism and art they figure among the Instruments of the Passion or Arma Christi, the objects associated with Jesus' Passion. Like the other Instruments the Holy Nails have become an object of veneration among many Christians and have been pictured in paintings and supposedly recovered.

When Helena, mother of Constantine the Great discovered the True Cross in Jerusalem, the legend was told by and repeated by Sozomen and Theodoret that the Holy Nails had been recovered too. Helena left all but a few fragments of the Cross in the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, but returned with the nails to Constantinople. As Theodoret tells it in his Ecclesiastical History, chapter xvii,

The mother of the emperor, on learning the accomplishment of her desire, gave orders that a portion of the nails should be inserted in the royal helmet, in order that the head of her son might be preserved from the darts of his enemies. The other portion of the nails she ordered to be formed into the bridle of his horse, not only to ensure the safety of the emperor, but also to fulfil an ancient prophecy; for long before Zechariah, the prophet, had predicted that 'There shall be upon the bridles of the horses Holiness unto the Lord Almighty.

Hook (rhetoric)

Hook (Blues Traveler song)

"Hook" is a song by the jam band Blues Traveler, from their 1994 album Four. The song peaked at #23 on the Billboard Hot 100.

The title of the song is a reference to the term hook; "A hook is a musical idea, often a short riff, passage, or phrase, that is used in popular music to make a song appealing and to "catch the ear of the listener". The term generally applies to popular music, especially rock music, R&B, hip hop, dance music, and pop."

The music video for the song featured Paul Shaffer on keyboard, who also played keyboards on the second track off the album Four, entitled "Stand."

Structure

The chord progression of Hook is very similar to the basic structure of Pachelbel's Canon in D, (D-A-Bm-F#m-G-D-G-A, or I-V-vi-iii-IV-I-IV-V). This chord progression is very widely used in popular music, often as the hook, leading to other satirical takes on the use of this chord structure.

There are several allusions in the song, one to the story of Peter Pan and his nemesis Captain Hook "no matter how much Peter loved her, what made the Pan refuse to grow, was that the Hook brings you back".

Hook (Transformers)

Hook is the name of four fictional characters in the Transformers series. The original Hook was introduced in 1985 and was voiced by Neil Ross in The Transformers. A third party Transformer called Dr. Crank was designed by TFClub which is a homage to Hook. Hook has also been the Japanese name of several other characters. A heroic mirror-universe version of Hook was created by Fun Publications in 2008 for their Shattered Glass story.

Transformers: Generation 1

Hook (Glen in Japan, which is an alternate pronunciation of "Crane" in Japanese) is a member of the Constructicons who transforms into a crane.

In 2011 Erector was one of five characters nominated for Hasbro's "Transformers Hall of Fame" by fans, the others being Jazz, Shockwave, Grimlock and Waspinator. According to the new biography published by Hasbro he used to be a Constructicon who lost out on membership to Hook.

Fictional biography

Animated series

In the episode, "The Secret of Omega Supreme", it is revealed in a flashback that the Constructicons were civilian workers reprogrammed by Megatron's Robo-Smasher device.