NAIL • FREE-TRANSLATOR.COM • Definition of Nail

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Nail

noun

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.

verb

(past & past part. nailed; pres. part. nailing)

1.

Attach something somewhere by means of nails.

2.

Take into custody. Synonyms: apprehend, arrest, collar, cop, nab, pick up.

3.

Hit hard. Synonyms: blast, boom, smash.

4.

Succeed in obtaining a position. Synonyms: nail down, peg.

5.

Succeed at easily. Synonyms: ace, breeze through, pass with flying colors, sail through, sweep through. "You will pass with flying colors" , "She nailed her astrophysics course"

6.

Locate exactly. Synonym: pinpoint. "The chemists could not nail the identity of the chromosome"

7.

Complete a pass. Synonym: complete.

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Etymology of 'Nail'

Related searches:

nail-tailed kangaroo

nail-tailed wallaby

eightpenny nail

WordNet 3.0 © 2010 Princeton University

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"Nail" Quotes from Famous Books

... Unless ground off with a bevel on both sides it cannot be controlled to cut accurately. A light hatchet is preferable to a heavy one. It should never be used for nailing purposes, except in emergencies. The pole of the hammer—that part which is generally used to strike the nail with—is required in order to properly balance the hatchet ...

— Carpentry for Boys • J. S. Zerbe

... Renaud, and Havelock, who had arrived in the town just as they were starting, promised to follow in a day or two, as soon as he could get ready a larger force. Eager soldier though he was, he had long ago laid to heart the truth of the old saying, 'for want of a nail the shoe was lost; for want of a shoe the horse was lost; for want of a horse the man was lost; for want of a man the kingdom was lost,' and he always took care that his nails were in their places. Therefore he waited a few days longer than he expected to do, and spent the time in enlisting ...

— The Red Book of Heroes • Leonora Blanche Lang

... dat blow nowhar,—dat ar a fact," said Sam, sententiously, giving an additional hoist to his pantaloons, and adroitly substituting a long nail in place of a missing suspender-button, with which effort of mechanical ...

— Uncle Tom's Cabin • Harriet Beecher Stowe

... story he had excluded all but himself and the groom. He and the groom had taken the horse out of the stable, it being the animal's nature to eat his corn better after slight exercise, and while doing so a nail had been picked up. ...

— The Duke's Children • Anthony Trollope

... conducting on to a balcony, and his eyes roamed over the endless sea of herbage to the far-away whiteness of Rome, above which rose the dome of St. Peter's, at that distance a mere sparkling speck, barely as large as the nail of ...

— The Three Cities Trilogy, Complete - Lourdes, Rome and Paris • Emile Zola

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