nail /ˈne(ə)l/
 釘子,指甲(vt.)用釘釘牢,使固定,使集中于,揭露


 nail /ˈne(ə)l/ 名詞
 釘,(指)甲


 Nail n.
 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. Zool. (a) The basal thickened portion of the anterior wings of certain hemiptera. (b) The terminal horny plate on the beak of ducks, and other allied birds.
 3. A slender, pointed piece of metal, usually with a head2, 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, (a) to hit most effectively; to do or say a thing in the right way. (b) to describe the most important factor.


 Nail, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Nailed p. pr. & vb. n. Nailing.]
 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.]
 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.

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 nail
      n 1: 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
      v 1: 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]


 Nail
    for fastening. (1.) Hebrew yathed, "piercing," a peg or nail of
    any material (Ezek. 15:3), more especially a tent-peg (Ex.
    27:19; 35:18; 38:20), with one of which Jael (q.v.) pierced the
    temples of Sisera (Judg. 4:21, 22). This word is also used
    metaphorically (Zech. 10:4) for a prince or counsellor, just as
    "the battle-bow" represents a warrior.

      (2.) Masmer, a "point," the usual word for a nail. The words
    of the wise are compared to "nails fastened by the masters of
    assemblies" (Eccl. 12:11, A.V.). The Revised Version reads, "as
    nails well fastened are the words of the masters," etc. Others
    (as Plumptre) read, "as nails fastened are the masters of
    assemblies" (comp. Isa. 22:23; Ezra 9:8). David prepared nails
    for the temple (1 Chr. 22:3; 2 Chr. 3:9). The nails by which our
    Lord was fixed to the cross are mentioned (John 20:25; Col.
    2:14).

      Nail of the finger (Heb. tsipporen, "scraping"). To "pare the
    nails" is in Deut. 21:12 (marg., "make," or "dress," or "suffer
    to grow") one of the signs of purification, separation from
    former heathenism (comp. Lev. 14:8; Num. 8:7). In Jer. 17:1 this
    word is rendered "point."