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Joined: May 2000
Posts: 24
stranger
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OP
stranger
Joined: May 2000
Posts: 24 |
Does anyone know the origin of the phrase "dead as a door nail"? I've heard it all my life, and used it myself. But I examined the nails in my door, and they appear no more dead -- or alive -- then the nails in my wall or in my floor.
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Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210 |
welcome, beanie! here's what I found at Bartleby:
Dead as a door-nail. The door-nail is the plate or knob on which the knocker or hammer strikes. As this nail is knocked on the head several times a day, it cannot be supposed to have much life left in it. 1
“Come thou and thy five men, and if I do not leave you all as dead as a door-nail, I pray God I may never eat grass more.”—Shakespeare: 2 Henry VI., iv. 10. (Jack Cade.)
“Falstaff. What! is the old king dead?
Pistol. As nail in door.”
Shakespeare: 2 Henry IV., v. 3.
Dead as a herring. (See HERRING.)there will be more, I'm sure... 
formerly known as etaoin...
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Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 2,636
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 2,636 |
Welcome aBoard, beanie.
Dead as a dodo, for one.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
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Joined: Mar 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
Will this clinch it for you?
a technique called clinching I got to wondering about the origin of the word clinch. GuruNet (sigh) says it is a variant of clench. So I looked up that one, and it said: Middle English clenchen, from Old English beclencan. At least GuruNet has the 2003 edition of the AHD.
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
As the boxing ref said, no hitting in the clinches.
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,819
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,819 |
Welcome beanie. Interesting thread. I've always wondered about that.
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