Careful Words

nail (n.)

nail (v.)

nail (adv.)

  Fasten him as a nail in a sure place.

Old Testament: Isaiah xxii. 23.

This hitteth the naile on the hed.

John Heywood (Circa 1565): Proverbes. Part ii. Chap. xi.

Hit the nail on the head.

John Fletcher (1576-1625): Love's Cure. Act ii. Sc. 1.

  You have there hit the nail on the head.

Martin Luther (1483-1546): Works. Book iii. Chap. xxxiv.

  A little neglect may breed mischief: for want of a nail the shoe was lost; for want of a shoe the horse was lost; and for want of a horse the rider was lost.

Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790): Maxims prefixed to Poor Richard's Almanac, 1757.

Care to our coffin adds a nail, no doubt,

And every grin so merry draws one out.

John Wolcot (1738-1819): Expostulatory Odes. Ode xv.

Nail to the mast her holy flag,

Set every threadbare sail,

And give her to the god of storms,

The lightning and the gale!

Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809-1894): Old Ironsides.

With tooth and nail.

Du Bartas (1544-1590): First Week, Second Day.

by simon sarris • about