Dictionary

handnail en · NOUN

Etymology

From hand + nail. Compare Old English handnæġl.

Meanings

1. (uncommon) Synonym of fingernail.
   • It was also found that making artificial nails, which comprises making a model of handnails of each person, making a plastic cover for the nails[…] 1991, Masami Hanabusa, An Analysis of Japanese Patent Law: Translated from the Original Treatise, Brunswick Publishing, →ISBN, page 32:
   • We compared our hands: even the corns and handnails were the same. 1969, Aleksandr Abramov, Sergei Abramov, Horsemen from Nowhere, Mir Publishers, page 21:
   • Localisation: Handnails, rarely footnails (infection not very common in India). 1966, The Journal of the Christian Medical Association of India, page 397:
   • Vee luff Mickey and his beeg juicy eyes, (zombie eyes) and Minny with her sharp handnails. 2006, David White, “The Hangman’s Picnic”, in Hell’s Flowers: Hell’s Flowers, Birds of Paradise & The Hangman’s Picnic, Xlibris, →ISBN, page 348:
   • He looked very young, almost a boy, and had a habit of biting off handnails. 1965, Soviet Literature, page 53:
   • Deformed, dirtily stained and made extremely fragile, toenails as well as handnails of Kanemi Rice Oil Disease patients come off suddenly, to be replaced by new ones which face the same fate. 1973, AMPO: Japan-Asia Quarterly Review, page 29:
   • On opening the lead, the fleſh, hair, and toe and hand nails, were as perfect and ſound as though he had not been dead ſix hours. 1772 February, Sylvanus Urban [pen name; Edward Cave], editor, The Gentleman’s Magazine, and Historical Chronicle, volume XLII, London: […] D. Henry, page 92:

Forms

Relateds

footnail

Synonyms

fingernail