What is "nail"

Nail \Nail\ (n[=a]l), 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. "o`nyx, 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.)

   1. The basal thickened portion of the anterior wings of certain hemiptera.

   2. The terminal horny plate on the beak of ducks, and other allied birds.

3. A slender, pointed piece of metal, usually with a head[2], 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; to pay cash on the nail. ``You shall have ten thousand pounds on the nail.'' --Beaconsfield. To hit the nail on the head,

   1. to hit most effectively; to do or say a thing in the right way.

   2. to describe the most important factor.

Nail \Nail\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Nailed (n[=a]ld); 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 an assertion or To nail a lie, 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.

Old English næglian "to fasten with nails," from Proto-Germanic *ganaglijan (cognates: Old Saxon neglian, Old Norse negla, Old High German negilen, German nageln, Gothic ganagljan "to nail"), from the root of nail (n.). Related: Nailed; nailing. Meaning "to catch, seize" is first recorded 1766, probably from earlier sense "to keep fixed in a certain position" (1610s). Meaning "to succeed in hitting" is from 1886. To nail down "to fix down with nails" is from 1660s.\n

Old English negel "metal pin," nægl "fingernail (handnægl), toenail," from Proto-Germanic *naglaz (cognates: Old Norse nagl "fingernail," nagli "metal nail;" Old Saxon and Old High German nagel, Old Frisian neil, Middle Dutch naghel, Dutch nagel, German Nagel "fingernail, small metal spike"), from PIE root *(o)nogh "nail" (cognates: Greek onyx "claw, fingernail;" Latin unguis "nail, claw;" Old Church Slavonic noga "foot," noguti "nail, claw;" Lithuanian naga "hoof," nagutis "fingernail;" Old Irish ingen, Old Welsh eguin "nail, claw").\n

\nThe "fingernail" sense seems to be the original one. Nail polish attested from 1891. To bite one's nails as a sign of anxiety is attested from 1570s. Nail-biting is from 1805. Hard as nails is from 1828. To hit the nail on the head "say or do just the right thing" is first recorded 1520s. Phrase on the nail "on the spot, exactly" is from 1590s, of obscure origin; OED says it is not even certain it belongs to this sense of nail.

Etymology 1 n. 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 hemipter

1. 3 The terminal horny plate on the beak of ducks, and other allied birds. 4 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. 5 A round pedestal on which merchants once carried out their business, such as the four nails outside http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The%20Exchange,%20Bristol%23Nails. 6 An archaic English unit of length equivalent to 1/20th of an ell or 1/16th of a yard (2.25 inches or 5.715 cm). Etymology 2

   v

2. 1 (context transitive English) To fix (an object) to another object using a nail. 2 (context intransitive English) To drive a nail. 3 (context transitive English) To stud or boss with nails, or as if with nails. 4 (context slang English) To catch. 5 (context transitive slang English) To expose as a sham. 6 (context transitive slang English) To accomplish (a task) completely and successfully. 7 (context transitive slang English) To hit (a target) effectively with some weapon.

1. n. 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

1. v. 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, apprehend, arrest, pick up, nab, cop]

3. hit hard; "He smashed a 3-run homer" [syn: smash, boom, blast]

4. succeed in obtaining a position; "He nailed down a spot at Harvard" [syn: nail down, peg]

5. succeed at easily; "She sailed through her exams"; "You will pass with flying colors"; "She nailed her astrophysics course" [syn: breeze through, ace, pass with flying colors, sweep through, sail 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]

A nail is a horn-like envelope covering the tips of the fingers and toes in humans, most non-human primates, and a few other mammals. Nails are similar to claws in other animals. Fingernails and toenails are made of a tough protective protein called keratin. This protein is also found in the hooves and horns of different animals. It is made up of dead skin cells.

Nail or Nails may refer to:

Nail is the fourth studio album by Scraping Foetus Off the Wheel. It was released in October 1985, through record labels Self Immolation and Some Bizzare.

Nail or Nails is the surname of:

• Bethanie Nail (born 1956), Australian retired runner
• Bobby Nail (1925-1995), American bridge player
• David Nail (born 1979), American country music singer-songwriter
• Jimmy Nail (born 1954), English actor and singer
• John E. Nail (1883–1947), African-American real estate agent
• Debra Nails (born 1950), American philosophy professor and classics scholar
• Jamie Nails (born 1977), American former National Football League player

In woodworking and construction, a nail is a pin-shaped object of metal (or wood, called a treenail or "trunnel") which is used as a fastener, as a peg to hang something, or sometimes as a decoration. Generally nails have a sharp point on one end and a flattened head on the other, but headless nails are available. Nails are made in a great variety of forms for specialized purposes. The most common is a wire nail. Other types of nails include pins, tacks, brads, and spikes.

Nails are typically driven into the workpiece by a hammer, a pneumatic nail gun, or a small explosive charge or primer. A nail holds materials together by friction in the axial direction and shear strength laterally. The point of the nail is also sometimes bent over or clinched after driving to prevent pulling out.

A nail, as a unit of cloth measurement, is generally a sixteenth of a yard or 2 inches (5.715 cm). The nail was apparently named after the practice of hammering brass nails into the counter at shops where cloth was sold. On the other hand, R D Connor, in The weights and measures of England (p 84) states that the nail was the 16th part of a Roman foot, i.e., digitus or finger, although he provides no reference to support this. Zupko's A dictionary of weights and measures for the British Isles (p 256) states that the nail was originally the distance from the thumbnail to the joint at the base of the thumb, or alternately, from the end of the middle finger to the second joint.

An archaic usage of the term nail is as a sixteenth of a (long) hundredweight for mass, or 1 clove of 7 pound avoirdupois (3.175 kg).

Nail is a given name which may refer to:

• Nail Bakirov (1952–2010), Russian statistician and professor
• Nail Beširović (born 1967), Bosnian retired footballer
• Nail Çakırhan (1910–2008), Turkish poet, journalist, architect and house restorer
• Nail Galimov (born 1966), Russian football coach and former player
• Nail Khabibullin (born 1979), Russian footballer
• Nail Magzhanov (born 1980), Russian former footballer
• Nail Minibayev (born 1985), Russian former footballer
• Nail Yakupov (born 1993), Russian National Hockey League player
• Nail Zamaliyev (born 1989), Russian footballer

__NOTOC__ Relics that are claimed to be the Holy Nails with which Christ was crucified are objects of veneration among some Christians, i.e., among Catholics and the Eastern Orthodox. In Christian symbolism and art they figure among the Instruments of the Passion or Arma Christi, the objects associated with Jesus' Passion. Like the other Instruments the Holy Nails have become an object of veneration among many Christians and have been pictured in paintings and supposedly recovered.

When Helena, mother of Constantine the Great discovered the True Cross in Jerusalem, the legend was told by and repeated by Sozomen and Theodoret that the Holy Nails had been recovered too. Helena left all but a few fragments of the Cross in the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, but returned with the nails to Constantinople. As Theodoret tells it in his Ecclesiastical History, chapter xvii,

The mother of the emperor, on learning the accomplishment of her desire, gave orders that a portion of the nails should be inserted in the royal helmet, in order that the head of her son might be preserved from the darts of his enemies. The other portion of the nails she ordered to be formed into the bridle of his horse, not only to ensure the safety of the emperor, but also to fulfil an ancient prophecy; for long before Zechariah, the prophet, had predicted that 'There shall be upon the bridles of the horses Holiness unto the Lord Almighty.

One of the nails is said to have come to rest in the Iron Crown of Lombardy.

The authenticity of many of these relics is in question. The Catholic Encyclopedia remarked that given that the question has long been debated whether Christ was crucified with three or with four nails:

Very little reliance can be placed upon the authenticity of the thirty or more holy nails which are still venerated, or which have been venerated until recent times, in such treasuries as that of Santa Croce in Rome, or those of Venice, Aachen, Escurial, Nuremberg, Prague, etc. Probably the majority began by professing to be facsimiles which had touched or contained filings from some other nail whose claim was more ancient. It is conceivable that imitations in this way may have come in a very brief space of time to be reputed originals.

The bridle of Constantine, for instance, is believed to be identical with a relic of this form which for several centuries has been preserved at Carpentras, but there is another claimant of the same kind at Milan. Similarly the diadem of Constantine is asserted to be at Monza, and it has long been known as "the iron crown of Lombardy." Simple fraud is also a possibility. The tale behind the bridle of Constantine originates with the fifth-century Church historian of Constantinople, Socrates of Constantinople, in his Ecclesiastical History, which was finished shortly after 439. According to Socrates, after Constantine was proclaimed Caesar then Emperor, he ordered that all honor be paid to his mother, Helena to make up for the neglect paid her by her former husband, Constantius Chlorus. After her conversion to Christianity, Constantine sent her on a quest to find the cross and nails used to crucify Jesus. A Jew called Judas (in later retellings called Cyriacus) led her to the place they were buried. Several miracles were claimed, to prove the authenticy of these items, and St. Helena returned with a piece of the cross and the nails. The story that one nail was used to make a bridle, one was used to make the Helmet of Constantine and two were cast into the Adriatic Sea has its origins with Socrates.

The question of whether Christ was crucified with three or four nails has long been debated, and can hardly be answered with references to medieval treatises or ancient iconic traditions. The details can be followed, however, in the Catholic Encyclopedia (see external link below). The belief that three nails were used is called Triclavianism.