name
Meaning 1
A surname transferred from the nickname.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Standard Lemma guide
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
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name
A surname transferred from the nickname.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
The horny plate or appendage at the ends of the digits of various animals, including most reptiles, birds, and mammals (both nonhuman and human).
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: onychium, unguis
Antonyms: none provided
noun
The horny plate or appendage at the ends of the digits of various animals, including most reptiles, birds, and mammals (both nonhuman and human).
The thin, flat type of such a plate on the fingers and toes of humans, chimpanzees and some other primates.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: often, specifically
Synonyms: onychium, unguis
Antonyms: none provided
noun
The basal thickened portion of the anterior wings of certain hemiptera.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
The terminal horny plate on the beak of ducks and other allied birds.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
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.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
A round pedestal on which merchants once carried out their business, such as the four nails outside The Exchange, Bristol.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
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).
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
To fix (an object) to another object using a nail.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: transitive
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
To drive a nail.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: intransitive
Synonyms: hammer
Antonyms: none provided
verb
To stud or boss with nails, or as if with nails.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: transitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
To catch.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: slang
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: arrest, collar, nick, apprehend, begripe, capture, fang, grasp, get, gripe, lay hold of, rape, seize, take, take hold
Antonyms: none provided
verb
To expose as a sham.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: slang, transitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
To accomplish (a task) completely and successfully.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: slang, transitive
Synonyms: ace, fullbring, fulfill
Antonyms: screw
verb
To hit (a target) effectively with some weapon.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: slang, transitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Of a male, to engage in sexual intercourse with.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: slang, transitive, vulgar
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: dick, pound, rail, screw, Formal terms, bed, coit, coitize, dight, enjoy, feague, go in unto, go to bed with, have, know, lie by, lie with, love, mount, occupy, penetrate, season, seduce, sleep with, take, Any of Thesaurus:copulate + "with", Informal and slang terms, ball, bang, bauf, beep, be with, bone, boff, boink, bonk, boom-boom, diddle, dig out, do, doink, drill, eff, expletive deleted, fill, frack, frak, frick, frig, fuck, get into someone's pants, get over on, get up in, give someone one, give someone the time, go with, have one's way with, have one's wicked way with, hit, hump, jape, jump, jump someone's bones, knob, knock, knock off, know someone in the biblical sense, lay, love up, make, nail, plough, plug, poke, pork, prig, pump, ravage, ream, rock, roger, root, run through, rut, sard, schlong, see to, service, shaft, shag, shelve, slay, slip it to, smash, smush, stallionize, swive, tap, tup, wap
Antonyms: none provided
verb
To spike, as a cannon.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Topics: government, military, politics, war
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
To nail down: to make certain, or confirm.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: transitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: clinch, fix, lock down, pin down
Antonyms: none provided
verb
To steal.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: obsolete, slang, transitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
a thin pointed piece of metal that is hammered into materials as a fastener
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: fastener, fastening, holdfast, fixing
Narrower terms: brad, clout nail, clout, doornail, eightpenny nail, fourpenny nail, hobnail, sixpenny nail, spike, staple, stub nail, tack, tenpenny nail
noun
horny plate covering and protecting part of the dorsal surface of the digits
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: horny structure, unguis
Narrower terms: fingernail, toenail
noun
a former unit of length for cloth equal to 1/16 of a yard
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: linear unit, linear measure
verb
complete a pass
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: complete
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: play
verb
take into custody
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Synonyms: collar, apprehend, arrest, pick up, nab, cop
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: seize, prehend, clutch
verb
attach something somewhere by means of nails
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: attach
verb
hit hard
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Synonyms: smash, boom, blast
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: hit
verb
locate exactly
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Synonyms: pinpoint
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: locate, turn up
verb
succeed at easily
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Synonyms: breeze through, ace, pass with flying colors, sweep through, sail through
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: pass, make it
verb
succeed in obtaining a position
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Synonyms: nail down, peg
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: succeed, win, come through, bring home the bacon, deliver the goods
History
From nail, hence a metonymic occupational surname for a maker of nails, or a nickname for a tall and slender person.
From Middle English nail, nayl, Old English næġl, from Proto-West Germanic *nagl, from Proto-Germanic *naglaz, from Proto-Indo-European *h3nogh- (“nail”). Cognates Compare North Frisian Nail (“nail”), Saterland Frisian Nail (“nail”), West Frisian neil, German and Low German Nagel, Dutch and Swedish nagel, Danish and Norwegian Bokmål negl, Norwegian Nynorsk nagl, Finnish naula (“nail”), Estonian nael (“nail”), (compare Irish ionga, Latin unguis, Albanian nyell (“ankle, hard part of a limb”), Lithuanian nagas, Russian нога́ (nogá, “foot, leg”), но́готь (nógotʹ, “nail”), Ancient Greek ὄνυξ (ónux), Persian ناخن (nâxon), Sanskrit नख (nakhá).
From Middle English naylen, from Old English næġlan.
Across languages
595 source translations are retained for this English entry.