hobnailed

[ hob-neyld ]

adjective

1. furnished with hobnails.
2. rustic or loutish.

Word History and Origins

Origin of hobnailed¹

First recorded in 1590–1600; hobnail + -ed ³

Example Sentences

Mallory and Irvine, wearing wool and gabardine, hobnailed leather boots and homemade oxygen sets, disappeared into a swirling cloud on that fateful day, never to be seen alive again.

From Salon

Occasionally, the hobnailed boots of East German soldiers, patrolling the street above, echoed overhead.

From Literature

“In 1975, the whole British penal system was based on brutality and ignorance. They only employed ex-squaddies as screws: hobnailed boots, bulging muscles with tattoos. Everything was force.”

From The Guardian

Renovated, but with some of the original paving slabs that once echoed the hobnailed boots of Japan’s Imperial army.

From Salon

Out go the soldiers in tin hats, the bayonets, the haversacks and hobnailed ankle boots.

From Time