busy as a nailer

adjective

working constantly.

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Meanings

adjectivebusy as a nailer (not comparable)
  1. Irelanddatedidiomaticnot comparablesimileworking constantly.

    So the Colonel went down stairs, and the Ould Fellow worked away as busy as a nailer, shovellin' in the guineas by hundherds and thousands.

    1832 Samuel Lover "The Devil's Mill" Legends and Stories of Ireland (Dublin: Wakeman) 2nd ed., p. 139
    2 more examples

    The result was obvious; the nailer was no longer “as busy as a nailer,” and there was no prospect that he ever would be fully employed.

    1888, Pennsylvania Secretary of Internal Affairs, Bureau of Industrial Statistics; Annual Report for 1887 (Harrisburg: E. K. Meyers) "G: The Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers" p. 24

    … she would be as busy as a nailer in the Abbey Shop ensuring that Mass cards were ready for those who came, and helping out in any other way she could.

    2017 May 30, Noel Dundon, "Appreciation: The Late Eileesh Quirke, Holycross" Tipperary Star (Thurles)
Cite this entry
APA

busy as a nailer. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/busy%20as%20a%20nailer

MLA

“busy as a nailer.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/busy%20as%20a%20nailer. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “busy as a nailer,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/busy%20as%20a%20nailer.

Source: busy as a nailer on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.