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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

nail       (nāl)  Pronunciation Key  (click for larger image in new window) n.   A slim, pointed piece of metal hammered into material as a fastener. A fingernail or toenail. A claw or talon. Something resembling a nail in shape, sharpness, or use. A measure of length formerly used for cloth, equal to 1/16 yard (5.7 centimeters). tr.v.   nailed, nail·ing, nails To fasten, join, or attach with or as if with a nail. To cover, enclose, or shut by fastening with nails: nail up a window. To keep fixed, motionless, or intent: Fear nailed me to my seat. Slang To stop and seize; catch: Police nailed the suspect. To detect and expose: nailed the senator in a lie; nail corruption before it gets out of control. To strike or bring down: nail a bird in flight; nail a running back. To perform successfully or have noteworthy success in: nailed the dive; nailed the exam. Slang To strike or bring down: nail a bird in flight; nail a running back. To perform successfully or have noteworthy success in: nailed the dive; nailed the exam. Baseball To put out (a base runner). Phrasal Verb(s): nail down To discover or establish conclusively: nailed down the story by checking all the facts. To win: nailed down another victory in the golf tournament. To specify or fix: We were finally able to nail down a meeting time. [Middle English, from Old English nægl, fingernail, toenail; see nogh- in Indo-European roots.] nail'er n.

Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
nail 

WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

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
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]
3.	hit hard; "He smashed a 3-run homer" [syn: smash]
4.	succeed in obtaining a position; "He nailed down a spot at Harvard" [syn: nail down]
5.	succeed at easily; "She sailed through her exams"; "You will pass with flying colors"; "She nailed her astrophysics course" [syn: breeze 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]

American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms - Cite This Source - Share This

nail

In addition to the idioms beginning with nail, also see bite one's nails; fight tooth and nail; hard as nails; hit the bull's-eye (nail on the head); on the nail.

American Heritage Stedman's Medical Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

nail (nāl)
n.

1. A fingernail or toenail.
2. A slender rod used in operations to fasten together the divided extremities of a broken bone.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Nail

Nail\, n. [AS. n[ae]gel, 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. ?, Skr. nakha. ?]

1. (Anat.) the horny scale of plate of epidermis at the end of the fingers and toes of man and many apes.

His nayles like a briddes claws were. --Chaucer.

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.

2. (Zo["o]l.) (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.

3. A slender, pointed piece of metal, usually with a head, used for fastening pieces of wood or other material together, by being driven into or through them.

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.

4. A measure of length, being two inches and a quarter, or the sixteenth of a yard.

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. "You shall have ten thousand pounds on the nail." --Beaconsfield.

To hit the nail on the head, to hit most effectively; to do or say a thing in the right way.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Nail

Nail\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Nailed; p. pr. & vb. n. Nailing.] [AS. n[ae]glian. 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.

He is now dead, and nailed in his chest. --Chaucer.

2. To stud or boss with nails, or as with nails.

The rivets of your arms were nailed with gold. --Dryden.

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.

When they came to talk of places in town, you saw at once how I nailed them. --Goldsmith.

4. To spike, as a cannon. [Obs.] --Crabb.

To nail a lie or an assertion, 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.

Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

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."