Nail vs. Needle

The thin, horny plate at the ends of fingers and toes on humans and some other animals.

Example: ‘When I'm nervous I bite my nails.’;

The basal thickened portion of the anterior wings of certain hemiptera.

The terminal horny plate on the beak of ducks, and other allied birds.

The claw of a bird or other animal.

A spike-shaped metal fastener used for joining wood or similar materials. The nail is generally driven through two or more layers of material by means of impacts from a hammer or other device. It is then held in place by friction.

A round pedestal on which merchants once carried out their business, such as the four nails outside The Exchange, Bristol.

An archaic English unit of length equivalent to 1/20th of an ell or 1/16th of a yard (2.25 inches or 5.715 cm).

(transitive) To fix (an object) to another object using a nail.

Example: ‘He nailed the placard to the post.’;

(intransitive) To drive a nail.

Example: ‘He used the ax head for nailing.’;

(transitive) To stud or boss with nails, or as if with nails.

(slang) To catch.

To expose as a sham.

To accomplish (a task) completely and successfully.

Example: ‘I really nailed that test.’;

To hit (a target) effectively with some weapon.

Of a male, to engage in sexual intercourse with.

To spike, as a cannon.

(transitive) To nail down: to make certain, or confirm.

the horny scale of plate of epidermis at the end of the fingers and toes of man and many apes.

Example: ‘His nayles like a briddes claws were.’;

The basal thickened portion of the anterior wings of certain hemiptera.

A slender, pointed piece of metal, usually with a head{2}, used for fastening pieces of wood or other material together, by being driven into or through them.

A measure of length, being two inches and a quarter, or the sixteenth of a yard.

To fasten with a nail or nails; to close up or secure by means of nails; as, to nail boards to the beams.

Example: ‘He is now dead, and nailed in his chest.’;

To stud or boss with nails, or as with nails.

Example: ‘The rivets of your arms were nailed with gold.’;

To fasten, as with a nail; to bind or hold, as to a bargain or to acquiescence in an argument or assertion; hence, to catch; to trap.

Example: ‘When they came to talk of places in town, you saw at once how I nailed them.’;

To spike, as a cannon.

horny plate covering and protecting part of the dorsal surface of the digits

a thin pointed piece of metal that is hammered into materials as a fastener

a former unit of length for cloth equal to 1/16 of a yard

attach something somewhere by means of nails;

Example: ‘nail the board onto the wall’;

take into custody;

Example: ‘the police nabbed the suspected criminals’;

hit hard;

Example: ‘He smashed a 3-run homer’;

succeed in obtaining a position;

Example: ‘He nailed down a spot at Harvard’;

succeed at easily;

Example: ‘She sailed through her exams’; ‘You will pass with flying colors’; ‘She nailed her astrophysics course’;

locate exactly;

Example: ‘can you pinpoint the position of the enemy?’; ‘The chemists could not nail the identity of the chromosome’;

complete a pass

A fine, sharp implement usually for piercing such as sewing, or knitting, acupuncture, tattooing, body piercing, medical injections, etc.

Example: ‘The seamstress threaded the needle to sew on a button.’;

Any slender, pointed object resembling a needle, such as a pointed crystal, a sharp pinnacle of rock, an obelisk, etc.

A fine measurement indicator on a dial or graph, e.g. a compass needle.

Example: ‘The needle on the fuel gauge pointed to empty.’;

A sensor for playing phonograph records, a phonograph stylus.

Example: ‘Ziggy bought some diamond needles for his hi-fi phonograph.’;

A needle-like leaf found on some conifers.

}} The death penalty carried out by lethal injection.

A text string that is searched for within another string.

To pierce with a needle, especially for sewing or acupuncture.

(transitive) To tease in order to provoke; to poke fun at.

Example: ‘Billy needled his sister incessantly about her pimples.’;

(transitive) To form in the shape of a needle.

Example: ‘to needle crystals’;

A small instrument of steel, sharply pointed at one end, with an eye to receive a thread, - used in sewing.

See Magnetic needle, under Magnetic.

A slender rod or wire used in knitting; a knitting needle; also, a hooked instrument which carries the thread or twine, and by means of which knots or loops are formed in the process of netting, knitting, or crocheting.

One of the needle-shaped secondary leaves of pine trees. See Pinus.

Any slender, pointed object, like a needle, as a pointed crystal, a sharp pinnacle of rock, an obelisk, etc.

A hypodermic needle; a syringe fitted with a hypodermic needle, used for injecting fluids into the body.

An injection of medicine from a hypodermic needle; a shot.

To form in the shape of a needle; as, to needle crystals.

To tease (a person), especially repeatedly.

To prod or goad (someone) into action by teasing or daring.

To form needles; to crystallize in the form of needles.

as of a conifer

a slender pointer for indicating the reading on the scale of a measuring instrument

a sharp pointed implement (usually steel)

a stylus that formerly made sound by following a groove in a phonograph record

goad or provoke,as by constant criticism;

Example: ‘He needled her with his sarcastic remarks’;

prick with a needle