Nail

6 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Nail \Nail\ (n[=a]l), n. [AS. naegel, akin to D. nagel, OS. &
     OHG. nagal, G. nagel, Icel. nagl, nail (in sense 1), nagli
     nail (in sense 3), Sw. nagel nail (in senses 1 and 3), Dan.
     nagle, Goth. ganagljan to nail, Lith. nagas nail (in sense
     1), Russ. nogote, L. unguis, Gr. "o`nyx, Skr. nakha.
     [root]259.]


     1. (Anat.) the horny scale of plate of epidermis at the end
        of the fingers and toes of man and many apes.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              His nayles like a briddes claws were. --Chaucer.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     Note: The nails are strictly homologous with hoofs and claws.
           When compressed, curved, and pointed, they are called
           {talons} or {claws}, and the animal bearing them is
           said to be unguiculate; when they incase the
           extremities of the digits they are called hoofs, and
           the animal is ungulate.
           [1913 Webster]
  
     2. (Zool.)
        (a) The basal thickened portion of the anterior wings of
            certain hemiptera.
        (b) The terminal horny plate on the beak of ducks, and
            other allied birds.
            [1913 Webster]
  
     3. A slender, pointed piece of metal, usually with a head[2],
        used for fastening pieces of wood or other material
        together, by being driven into or through them.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     Note: The different sorts of nails are named either from the
           use to which they are applied, from their shape, from
           their size, or from some other characteristic, as
           shingle, floor, ship-carpenters', and horseshoe nails,
           roseheads, diamonds, fourpenny, tenpenny (see {Penny},
           a.), chiselpointed, cut, wrought, or wire nails, etc.
           [1913 Webster]
  
     4. A measure of length, being two inches and a quarter, or
        the sixteenth of a yard.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     {Nail ball} (Ordnance), a round projectile with an iron bolt
        protruding to prevent it from turning in the gun.
  
     {Nail plate}, iron in plates from which cut nails are made.
        
  
     {On the nail}, in hand; on the spot; immediately; without
        delay or time of credit; as, to pay money on the nail; to
        pay cash on the nail. "You shall have ten thousand pounds
        on the nail." --Beaconsfield.
  
     {To hit the nail on the head},
        (a) to hit most effectively; to do or say a thing in the
            right way.
        (b) to describe the most important factor.
            [1913 Webster +PJC]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Nail \Nail\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Nailed} (n[=a]ld); p. pr. &
     vb. n. {Nailing}.] [AS. naeglian. See {Nail}, n.]
     1. To fasten with a nail or nails; to close up or secure by
        means of nails; as, to nail boards to the beams.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              He is now dead, and nailed in his chest. --Chaucer.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. To stud or boss with nails, or as with nails.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              The rivets of your arms were nailed with gold.
                                                    --Dryden.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. To fasten, as with a nail; to bind or hold, as to a
        bargain or to acquiescence in an argument or assertion;
        hence, to catch; to trap.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              When they came to talk of places in town, you saw at
              once how I nailed them.               --Goldsmith.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     4. To spike, as a cannon. [Obs.] --Crabb.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     {To nail an assertion} or {To nail a lie}, etc., to detect
        and expose it, so as to put a stop to its currency; -- an
        expression probably derived from the former practice of
        shopkeepers, who were accustomed to nail bad or
        counterfeit pieces of money to the counter.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  nail
       n 1: horny plate covering and protecting part of the dorsal
            surface of the digits
       2: a thin pointed piece of metal that is hammered into
          materials as a fastener
       3: a former unit of length for cloth equal to 1/16 of a yard
       v 1: attach something somewhere by means of nails; "nail the
            board onto the wall"
       2: take into custody; "the police nabbed the suspected
          criminals" [syn: {collar}, {apprehend}, {arrest}, {pick up},
           {nab}, {cop}]
       3: hit hard; "He smashed a 3-run homer" [syn: {smash}, {boom},
          {blast}]
       4: succeed in obtaining a position; "He nailed down a spot at
          Harvard" [syn: {nail down}, {peg}]
       5: succeed at easily; "She sailed through her exams"; "You will
          pass with flying colors"; "She nailed her astrophysics
          course" [syn: {breeze through}, {ace}, {pass with flying
          colors}, {sweep through}, {sail through}]
       6: locate exactly; "can you pinpoint the position of the
          enemy?"; "The chemists could not nail the identity of the
          chromosome" [syn: {pinpoint}]
       7: complete a pass [syn: {complete}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  187 Moby Thesaurus words for "nail":
     Gibraltar, abduct, adamant, agonize, articulate, at once, attach,
     bag, batten, batten down, be correct, be precise, be right, biff,
     bolt, bone, brick, buckle, butt, button, cabbage, capture,
     carry off, catch, cement, chafe, clasp, claw, claws, cleat, clench,
     clinch, clip, clout, clutch, clutches, cold, collar, complete,
     conclude, concrete, diamond, digits, ding, distinguish, dovetail,
     enmesh, ensnare, entangle, entrap, fangs, fasten, fastener,
     fastening, finalize, fingernails, fingers, fix, flint, focus, foul,
     fret, get, glue, grab, granite, grapple, hands, hard as nails,
     hardy, harpoon, hasp, have, heart of oak, hinge, hit, hitch, hook,
     hooks, horse, identify, immediately, iron, jam, jaws, join, joint,
     kidnap, know, know again, land, lasso, latch, lion, lock, make out,
     mandibles, marble, maxillae, meathooks, mesh, miter, mitts,
     mortise, nab, nail down, nails, net, nick, nip, nippers, noose,
     oak, on the nail, on the spot, ox, palm, peg, pin, pincers, pinch,
     place, pounces, prehend, promptly, punch, rabbet, realize,
     recall knowledge of, recognize, reidentify, resolve, right away,
     rivet, rock, rope, sack, scarf, screw, secure, settle, sew,
     shanghai, shoot, skewer, slog, slosh, snag, snap, snare, snatch,
     sniggle, sock, spear, spike, spot, staple, steel, stew over, stick,
     stitch, stone, strike, suffer, tack, take, talon, talons, tangle,
     tangle up with, teeth, tell, throttle, toggle, tough, trap,
     unfeeling, unguals, ungulae, unsentimental, unsympathetic,
     vigorous, wedge, whack, without delay, worry, zipper
  
  

From Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary [easton]:

  Nail
     for fastening. (1.) Hebrew yathed, "piercing," a peg or nail of
     any material (Ezek. 15:3), more especially a tent-peg (Ex.
     27:19; 35:18; 38:20), with one of which Jael (q.v.) pierced the
     temples of Sisera (Judg. 4:21, 22). This word is also used
     metaphorically (Zech. 10:4) for a prince or counsellor, just as
     "the battle-bow" represents a warrior.
     
       (2.) Masmer, a "point," the usual word for a nail. The words
     of the wise are compared to "nails fastened by the masters of
     assemblies" (Eccl. 12:11, A.V.). The Revised Version reads, "as
     nails well fastened are the words of the masters," etc. Others
     (as Plumptre) read, "as nails fastened are the masters of
     assemblies" (comp. Isa. 22:23; Ezra 9:8). David prepared nails
     for the temple (1 Chr. 22:3; 2 Chr. 3:9). The nails by which our
     Lord was fixed to the cross are mentioned (John 20:25; Col.
     2:14).
     
       Nail of the finger (Heb. tsipporen, "scraping"). To "pare the
     nails" is in Deut. 21:12 (marg., "make," or "dress," or "suffer
     to grow") one of the signs of purification, separation from
     former heathenism (comp. Lev. 14:8; Num. 8:7). In Jer. 17:1 this
     word is rendered "point."
     

From Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [bouvier]:

  NAIL, A measure of length, equal to two inches and a quarter. Vide Measure.