on the nail
English · Thesaurus
AI In plain words
Writing a short explanation…
Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.
on the nail
Where it comes from
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’."
phrase
-
Immediately, without delay.
Tell me, have you a mind to anything in the Doctor's book? Speak the word, and I will help you to it upon the nail.
Similar: on the double
-
Exactly.
Six o'clock on the nail. She wasn't going to be late.
Similar: on the dot
Translations
Every language
prep_phrase Translations
| Français | rubis sur l'ongle |
|---|
Talk about this word "on the nail." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/on%20the%20nail. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. on the nail. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/on%20the%20nail "on the nail." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/on%20the%20nail.Cite this
@misc{on_the_nail_2026,
title = {on the nail},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/on%20the%20nail},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
