doornailn.
A large-headed nail, with which doors were formerly studded for strength, protection, or ornamentation: now chiefly in the alliterative phr. as dead, deaf, dumb, dour as a doornail: see dead adj. 32b, deaf adj. 1d, etc. Conjectured by Todd to be ‘The nail on which in ancient doors the knocker struck’. No evidence of this appears.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > equipment > building and constructing equipment > fastenings > [noun] > nail > nails for other specific uses
stay-nail1296
wough-nailc1300
strake-nail1334
wall-nail1344
traverse nail1348
doornail1350
gad-nail1375
lath-nail1388
clout-nail1463
lattice-nail1480
lath-brod1536
sheathing-nail1611
bellows-nail1731
weight nail1850
panel pin1867
wheeler1873
fencing-nail1874
brattice-nail1880
toggle1934
1350 in H. T. Riley Memorials London (1868) 262 3000 dornail..7200 dornail.
a1375 (c1350) William of Palerne (1867) l. 628 For but ich haue bote of mi bale..I am ded as dore-nail.
a1400–50 Alexander 4747 Dom as a dore-nayle & defe was he bathe.
1594 W. Shakespeare Henry VI, Pt. 2 iv. ix. 39 And I do not leaue thee..as dead as a doore nayle.
1680 T. Otway Hist. Caius Marius v. 57 As dead as a Herring, Stock-fish, or Door-nail.
1855 E. C. Gaskell North & South I. xvii. 209 Thornton's as dour as a door-nail.
1866 J. E. T. Rogers Hist. Agric. & Prices I. 497 Door-nails, floor and roof-nails.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1897; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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n.1350