Definitions for nail

• Definition
• Anagrams (36)

nail nail

Spelling: [neyl]

IPA: /neɪl/

Nail is a 4 letter English word. It's valid Scrabble word worth 4 points. It's valid Words with friends word worth 6 points.

You can make 36 anagrams from letters in nail (ailn).

Definitions for nail

noun

1. a slender, typically rod-shaped rigid piece of metal, usually in any of numerous standard lengths from a fraction of an inch to several inches and having one end pointed and the other enlarged and flattened, for hammering into or through wood, other building materials, etc., as used in building, in fastening, or in holding separate pieces together.
2. a thin, horny plate, consisting of modified epidermis, growing on the upper side of the end of a finger or toe.
3. a former measure of length for cloth, equal to 2¼ inches (6.4 cm).

Idioms

1. hit the nail on the head, to say or do exactly the right thing; be accurate or correct:
2. nail in someone's / something's coffin, something that hastens the demise or failure of a person or thing:
3. on the nail, Informal. of present interest; under discussion. without delay; on the spot; at once:

Verb phrases

1. nail down, to make final; settle once and for all:

verb (used with object)

1. to fasten with a nail or nails:
2. to enclose or confine (something) by nailing (often followed by up):
3. to make fast or keep firmly in one place or position:
4. to accomplish perfectly:
5. Informal. to secure by prompt action; catch or seize: to catch (a person) in some difficulty, lie, etc. to detect and expose (a lie, scandal, etc.).
6. Slang. to hit (a person):
7. to focus intently on an object or subject:
8. Obsolete. to stud with or as if with nails.

Origin of nail

before 900; (noun) Middle English nail(l), nayl(l), Old English nægl, cognate with Old Frisian neil, Old Saxon, Old High German nagal, Dutch nagel, German Nagel, Old Norse nagl fingernail, al

Examples for nail

You left them hanging upon the nail, and you found them there.

The phrase means, “the nail that sticks out always gets hit by a hammer.”

The latter was angered, and he swallowed her, tooth and nail.

On a nail driven into the door frame hung a heavy bull whip.

Not enough that Democrats can win Arkansas, God knows, but maybe enough that they can nail down North Carolina again.

Once you nail that down, you realize that all the dance steps emerge from that.

He was sent home, and hung upon a nail over against my table.

In the beginning, a star, when drawn with a nail into a brick looked as follows.

Along the way, he accidentally embeds a nail in his foot, which is not symbolic at all.

MOSCOW—Every now and then I run into Anna Chapman at a nail salon called “Little Fingers” on Potapovsky Avenue in downtown Moscow.