Definition of "nail"

nail¹

/neɪl/

noun
plural nails
1. The thin, horny plate at the ends of fingers and toes on humans and some other animals.
2. The basal thickened portion of the anterior wings of certain hemiptera.
3. The terminal horny plate on the beak of ducks, and other allied birds.
4. The claw of a bird or other animal.
5. A spike-shaped metal fastener used for joining wood or similar materials. The nail is generally driven through two or more layers of material by means of impacts from a hammer or other device. It is then held in place by friction.
  Quotations
  Orion hit a rabbit once; but though sore wounded it got to the bury, and, struggling in, the arrow caught the side of the hole and was drawn out. Indeed, a nail filed sharp is not of much avail as an arrowhead; you must have it barbed, and that was a little beyond our skill.
  1879, R[ichard] J[efferies], chapter II, in The Amateur Poacher, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […]
6. A round pedestal on which merchants once carried out their business, such as the four nails outside The Exchange, Bristol.
7. An archaic English unit of length equivalent to 1⁄20 of an ell or 1⁄16 of a yard (2+1⁄4 inches or 5.715 cm).

nail²

/neɪl/

verb
third-person singular simple present nails, present participle nailing, simple past and past participle nailed
1. (transitive) To fix (an object) to another object using a nail.
2. (intransitive) To drive a nail.
3. (transitive) To stud or boss with nails, or as if with nails.
  Quotations
  The rivets of their arms were nail'd with gold.
  1700, [John] Dryden, “The Flower and the Leaf: Or, The Lady in the Arbour. A Vision.”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […]
4. (slang) To catch.
  Quotations
  I pray you now send me some dub, / A bottle or two to the needy. / I beg you won't bring it yourself, / The harman is at the Old-Bailey; / I'd rather you'd send it behalf, / For, if they twig you they'll nail you.
  1765, “A Song in High Life”, in The Merry Medley, volume 1, London: W. Hoggard, page 35
  Dammit, John, I'm tired of this 'Demolition Man' stuff! […] Now, I know you've been trying to nail this psycho for two years, but try remembering a little thing called official police procedure.
  1993, Peter M. Lenkov, Robert Reneau, Daniel Waters, Demolition Man, spoken by Captain Healy (Steve Kahan)
  we'll nail the sophist to it, if we can get him on that charge;
  2005, Lesley, transl. Brown, Sophist, 261a, translation of original by Plato
5. (transitive, slang) To expose as a sham.
6. (transitive, slang) To accomplish (a task) completely and successfully.
  Quotations
  The chief executive and founder of Meta used his new Threads account to say Twitter had not “nailed” its opportunity to become a mega app and that his copycat version would be “focusing on kindness”.
  2023 July 6, Dan Milmo, quoting Mark Zuckerberg, “Zuckerberg uses Threads to say Twitter has missed its chance”, in The Guardian‎
7. (transitive, slang) To hit (a target) effectively with some weapon.
  Quotations
  Fly-half Ruaridh Jackson departed early with injury but Chris Paterson nailed a penalty from wide out left to give Scotland an early lead, and Jackson's replacement Dan Parks added three more points with a penalty which skimmed over the crossbar.
  2011 October 1, Tom Fordyce, “Rugby World Cup 2011: England 16-12 Scotland”, in BBC Sport‎
8. (transitive, vulgar, slang) Of a male, to engage in sexual intercourse with.
  Quotations
  Allison Reynolds: I'm a nymphomaniac. […] The only person I told was my shrink. / Andrew Clark: And what did he do when you told him? / Allison Reynolds: He nailed me.
  1985, John Hughes, The Breakfast Club (motion picture)
  There’s a benefit gala at the Boston Pops tonight, and... well, I’m trying to nail the flautist.
  1999, Neil Goldman, Garrett Donovan, “Da Boom”, in Family Guy, season 2, episode 3, spoken by Brian Griffin (Seth MacFarlane)
9. (military) To spike, as a cannon.
  Quotations
  That the Ordinance be not nayled, nor the munition fiered.
  1598, Robert Barret, he Theorike and Practike of Modern Warres
10. (transitive) To nail down: to make certain, or confirm.

Definition of "nail"

nail1

noun

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nail2

verb

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nail¹

nail²