nail-sickadj.
/ˈneɪlsɪk/, U.S. /ˈneɪlˌsɪk/ Esp. of a ship or a roof: held together with corroded nails or otherwise unsound fastenings, and hence leaky.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > vessel with reference to qualities or attributes > [adjective] > not seaworthy or unstable > leaky > at nails
iron-sick1626
nail-sick1850
1850 H. Mayhew in Morning Chron. 5 Sept. 5/6 Nail-sick... It's our word when the nails have rusted asunder in the old rotten wood, and so when there's a stress on the boat..she goes slap to pieces.
a1862 H. D. Thoreau Cape Cod (1865) viii. 145 Much smaller waves soon make a boat ‘nail-sick’, as the phrase is.
1879 T. Warden Crossford II. 73 As the little craft was old and nailsick, she made a good deal of water in the ordinary way.
1933 E. A. Robertson Ordinary Families vi. 117 The Under Five Tons race in which Ronald..had entered his own nailsick craft Hedgehog.
1988 Do It Yourself Apr. 9/1 A ‘nail sick roof’ means that the fixings are failing fast and that it's time to take serious action.
Derivatives
ˈnail-sickness n. the state or condition of being nail-sick.
ΚΠ
1968 Aberdeen Evening Express 29 July 5/6 The Banffshire fishing boat Refleurir, lost with its crew of six off the West Coast in January, had a tendency to ‘nail sickness’.
1995 Pract. Householder Mar. 24/3 Nail sickness—nails corroding through due to long exposure to the elements—is the most common reason for a loose slate.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2003; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.1850