Meanings
- IrelandUKImmediately, without delay.
Tell me, have you a mind to anything in the Doctor's book? Speak the word, and I will help you to it upon the nail.
1596, Thomas Nashe, Have With You To Saffron Walden1 more example
You shall have ten thousand pounds on the nail, and I will take you back to London with me besides and teach you what is fortune.
1845, Benjamin Disraeli, Sybil, Or, The Two NationsSynonyms: on the double
- IrelandUKExactly.
Six o'clock on the nail. She wasn't going to be late.
2009, Cathy Kelly, What She WantsSynonyms: on the dot
Synonyms & antonyms
prepositional phraseImmediately, without delay.
prepositional phraseExactly.
Origin
Allegedly from the tradition of striking bargains by placing cash on the nails in Bristol, Limerick and Liverpool. The Oxford English Dictionary, however, cites an Anglo-Norman phrase from c. 1360, "payer sur le ungle" to pay on the (finger)nail meaning "to pay immediately and in full", and the Latin "ad unguem", exactly. It quotes parallel usages from 17th century French, Dutch and German sources and adds that "N.E.D. (1906) notes that: ‘the explanations associating it with certain pillars at the Exchange of Limerick or Bristol are too late to be of any authority in deciding the question’."
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Finnish välittömästi, hetimmiten
- välittömästiTranslations
- hetimmitenTranslations
French rubis sur l'ongle
- rubis sur l'ongleTranslations
Polish trafiony w sedno
- trafiony w sednoTranslations
Cite this entry
on the nail. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/on%20the%20nail
“on the nail.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/on%20the%20nail. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “on the nail,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/on%20the%20nail.
Source: on the nail on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.