little nail

plural little nails

1. Synonym of little fingernail.

   wfc 25 Scraping from right little nail

   1978, S. H. Burges, “Sexual offences”, in S. H. Burges, J. E. Hilton, editors, The New Police Surgeon: A Practical Guide to Clinical Forensic Medicine, London: Hutchinson Benham, →ISBN, page 278

   2 more examples

   As for nail piercing...well I have my little nail pierced all the time. I have a very small tool, like a hand drill, that does the hole for me. I don't recommend it on real nails though...as they can split easy.

   1998 December 27, MsAmanda_@yahoo.com, “MsAmanda's 'Delurk'”, in uk.people.bdsm (Usenet), archived from the original on 12 Sep 2025

   There was a brief shower of blue sparks; Harrow snatched her hand back, amazed and furious. The fingers had withered into puckered twigs; her little nail had fallen off entirely.

   2019 September 10, Tamsyn Muir, chapter 20, in Gideon the Ninth (The Locked Tomb; 1), New York, N.Y.: Tor.com, published 2020, →ISBN, act 3

   Synonyms: little fingernail

2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see little, nail.

   It’s not the end of civilization, either. It’s just another little nail in the coffin of democracy around the world.

   2008 May 7, Thomas L[oren] Friedman, “The Democratic Recession”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 26 Apr 2013