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.
A round pedestal on which merchants once carried out their business, such as the four nails outside The Exchange, Bristol.
An archaic English unit of length equivalent to of an ell or of a yard ( inches or 5.715 cm).
Verb
To fix (an object) to another object using a nail.
From Middle English nail, nayl, Old English næġl, from Proto-West Germanic *nagl, from Proto-Germanic *naglaz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₃nogʰ- ("nail").
Compare Saterland Frisian Nail ("nail"), West Frisian neil, Low German Nagel, Dutch nagel, German Nagel, Danish negl, Swedish nagel), (compare Irish ionga, Latin unguis, Albanian nyell ("ankle, hard part of a limb"), Lithuanian nagas, Russian нога́ ("foot, leg"), но́готь, Ancient Greek ὄνυξ, Persian ناخن, Sanskrit नख.
From Middle English naylen, from Old English næġlan.
Modern English dictionary
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