Naïf
(Na"ïf`) a. [F. naïf. See Naïve.]
1. Having a true natural luster without being cut; — applied by jewelers to a precious stone.
2. Naïve; as, a naïf remark. London Spectator.
Naik
(||Na"ik) n. [Hind. nayak.] A chief; a leader; a Sepoy corporal. Balfour
Nail
(Nail) n. [AS. nægel, akin to D. nagel, OS OHG. nagal, G. nagel, Icel. nagl, nail nagli nail Sw.
nagel nail Dan. nagle, Goth. ganagljan to nail, Lith. nagas nail Russ. nogote, L. unguis, Gr. Skr.
nakha. ]
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. 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. (Zoöl.) (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 head, used for fastening pieces of wood or other
material together, by being driven into or through them.
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. "You shall have ten thousand pounds on the nail."
Beaconsfield. — To hit the nail on the head, to hit most effectively; to do or say a thing in the right
way.
Nail
(Nail), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Nailed ; p. pr. & vb. n. Nailing.] [AS. næglian. See Nail, n.]
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.] Crabb.
