toenail

[ toh-neyl ]

noun

1. a nail of a toe.
2. Carpentry. a nail driven obliquely.
3. Printing Slang. a parenthesis.

verb (used with object)

1. Carpentry. to secure with oblique nailing.

toenail

/ ˈtəʊˌneɪl /

noun

1. a thin horny translucent plate covering part of the dorsal surface of the end joint of each toe ungualungular
2. carpentry a nail driven obliquely, as in joining one beam at right angles to another
3. slang.
   printing a parenthesis

verb

1. tr carpentry to join (beams) by driving nails obliquely

Word History and Origins

Origin of toenail¹

First recorded in 1835–45; toe + nail

Example Sentences

She looked down at her purple toenails and tensed her body, raising her left heel off its footrest for a half-second.

From Washington Post

I knew I’d end the summer with fewer toenails than I’d started with.

From Outside Online

Aardvarks Clipping Extraneous Toenails, Having Extremely Orgasmic Relations, Yearly!

From Washington Post

Just keep in mind that melanoma tends to show up in hard-to-find areas on darker skin, like under hands and feet, inside the nose and mouth, and under fingernails and toenails.

From Essence.com

If you ever put your hands on me again, I'm gonna snip your little nuts off with my toenail clippers!

From The Daily Beast

Yesterday, Ezra Klein reported the strange case of a hospital that charged $1,206 to clip a toenail.

From The Daily Beast

She takes care of our elderly in the neighborhood, if someone has toenail they can't clip, she'll do that for them.

From The Daily Beast

Now winter was a dull inaction, a period of discontent, in which thought gnawed at him like an ingrowing toenail.

From Project Gutenberg

Foot-ball produces what may be called the endogenous or ingrowing toenail, stringhalt and mania.

From Project Gutenberg

So the horse stands on the end of his middle toe, and his hind hoof is his middle toenail.

From Project Gutenberg

A toenail, particularly twisted, has been traced through three generations, on the same foot and toe.

From Project Gutenberg

She complained exceedingly and for a long time about the thickening of a toenail, even after the thickened part had been removed.

From Project Gutenberg