prep_phrase
Meaning 1
Immediately, without delay.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: Ireland, UK
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: on the double
Antonyms: none provided
Phrase guide
on the nail
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
Pronunciation
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No pronunciation record was provided for this word.
prep_phrase
Meaning 2
Exactly.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: Ireland, UK
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: on the dot
Antonyms: none provided
History
Etymology
Allegedly from the tradition of striking bargains by placing cash on the nails in Bristol, Limerick and Liverpool. The Oxford English Dictionary, however, cites an Anglo-Norman phrase from c. 1360, "payer sur le ungle" to pay on the (finger)nail meaning "to pay immediately and in full", and the Latin "ad unguem", exactly. It quotes parallel usages from 17th century French, Dutch and German sources and adds that "N.E.D. (1906) notes that: ‘the explanations associating it with certain pillars at the Exchange of Limerick or Bristol are too late to be of any authority in deciding the question’."
Across languages
Translations
4 source translations are retained for this English entry.
- Finnish: välittömästi — Translations
- Finnish: hetimmiten — Translations
- French: rubis sur l'ongle — Translations
- Polish: trafiony w sedno — Translations