This shows grade level based on the word's complexity.
nail
[ neyl ]
/ neɪl /
Save This Word!
This shows grade level based on the word's complexity.
noun
verb (used with object)
Verb Phrases
nail down, to make final; settle once and for all: Signing the contract will nail down our agreement.
QUIZ
CAN YOU ANSWER THESE COMMON GRAMMAR DEBATES?
There are grammar debates that never die; and the ones highlighted in the questions in this quiz are sure to rile everyone up once again. Do you know how to answer the questions that cause some of the greatest grammar debates?
Question 1 of 7
Which sentence is correct?
Idioms about nail
Origin of nail
First recorded before 900; Middle English (noun) nail, nayl, Old English nægl, cognate with Old Frisian neil, Old Saxon, Old High German nagal, Dutch nagel, German Nagel, Old Norse nagl “fingernail,” all from unattested Germanic naglaz; akin as derivative to Lithuanian nãgas, nagà “hoof,” Old Prussian nage “foot,” Old Church Slavonic noga “leg, foot” (Serbo-Croatian nòga, Czech noha, Polish noga, Russian nogá; probably originally a jocular reference to the foot as a hoof), Old Church Slavonic nogŭtĭ, Tocharian A maku, Tocharian B mekwa “fingernail, claw,” all from unattested North European Indo-European ənogwh-; further akin to Old Irish ingen, Welsh ewin, Breton ivin, from unattested Celtic ṇgwhīnā,Latin unguis, from unattested Italo-Celtic əngwhi-;Greek ónyx, stem onych-, Sanskrit áṅghri- “foot” from unattested áṅghli-; Armenian ełungn, from unattested onogwh-;Middle English (verb) nail(e), nayle, Old English næglian, cognate with Old Saxon neglian, Old High German negilen, Old Norse negla, from unattested Germanic nagl-janan; compare Gothic ganagljan
OTHER WORDS FROM nail
nailless, adjectivenaillike, adjectivere·nail, verb (used with object)Words nearby nail
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use nail in a sentence
British Dictionary definitions for nail
nail
/ (neɪl) /
noun
verb (tr)
Derived forms of nail
nailer, nounnail-less, adjectiveWord Origin for nail
Old English nǣgl; related to Old High German nagal nail, Latin unguis fingernail, claw, Greek onux
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Other Idioms and Phrases with nail
nail
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.