See on the nail on Wiktionary
{
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[
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[
"Liverpool",
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],
[
"ad unguem",
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]
],
"etymology_text": "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’.\"",
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "prep_phrase",
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"_dis1": "45 55",
"word": "hit the nail on the head"
}
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"ref": "1596, Thomas Nashe, Have With You To Saffron Walden:",
"text": "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.",
"type": "quotation"
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"ref": "1845, Benjamin Disraeli, Sybil, Or, The Two Nations:",
"text": "You shall have ten thousand pounds on the nail, and I will take you back to London with me besides and teach you what is fortune.",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"Immediately, without delay."
],
"id": "en-on_the_nail-en-prep_phrase-eepQKhat",
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"Immediately",
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[
"without",
"without"
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"delay",
"delay"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(UK, Ireland) Immediately, without delay."
],
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{
"word": "on the double"
}
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"Ireland",
"UK"
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"ref": "2009, Cathy Kelly, What She Wants:",
"text": "Six o'clock on the nail. She wasn't going to be late.",
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"Exactly."
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"(UK, Ireland) Exactly."
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"code": "fi",
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"word": "välittömästi"
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"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
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"sense": "Translations",
"word": "rubis sur l'ongle"
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"word": "trafiony w sedno"
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"word": "on the nail"
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[
"Liverpool",
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],
[
"ad unguem",
"ad unguem"
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],
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"ref": "1596, Thomas Nashe, Have With You To Saffron Walden:",
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"type": "quotation"
},
{
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35,
46
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}
],
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"Immediately, without delay."
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"delay"
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"(UK, Ireland) Immediately, without delay."
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"word": "on the double"
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},
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12,
23
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"ref": "2009, Cathy Kelly, What She Wants:",
"text": "Six o'clock on the nail. She wasn't going to be late.",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"Exactly."
],
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"(UK, Ireland) Exactly."
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"translations": [
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"lang_code": "fi",
"sense": "Translations",
"word": "välittömästi"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"lang_code": "fi",
"sense": "Translations",
"word": "hetimmiten"
},
{
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"lang_code": "fr",
"sense": "Translations",
"word": "rubis sur l'ongle"
},
{
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"lang_code": "pl",
"sense": "Translations",
"word": "trafiony w sedno"
}
],
"word": "on the nail"
}
Download raw JSONL data for on the nail meaning in All languages combined (3.0kB)
This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-09-25 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-09-02 using wiktextract (1a05e46 and e3d6d4e). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.
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