Word.ws English Dictionary

fingernailful

fingernailful noun: enough to be stored under one's fingernail.

Noun

fingernailful (plural fingernailfuls or fingernailsful)

  1. (rare) Enough to be stored under one's fingernail.
    • He hurried up the back stairs with the hot water, scooping up a fingernailful of frost off the window in the back hall where there wasn't any register.1952, Meredith Willson, Who did what to Fedalia?, page 27
    • He said, “A bag of heroin is about two little fingernailsful.[…]”1971 March 4, Pam Goldstein, “Students: Marijuana ‘Prevalent’ at Eastern”, in The Hartford Courant, volume CXXXIV, number 63, Hartford, Conn., page 50

Examples of fingernailful in a sentence

  • Clara gave me salts and bath oil and I continued examining the day in fingernailfuls.1974, Maya Angelou, Gather Together in My Name, New York, N.Y.: Random House, →ISBN, page 167:
  • He scraped up a fingernailful and, holding it to a nostril, slowly inhaled it.1987, William Diehl, Thai horse, page 307:
  • In the past, I would have eaten nine full-to-the-brim plates of her scrumptious savories — but just fingernailfuls this time.1988 December 29, Sandra Duveau, “Sneaking foods at holiday buffets”, in The Press-Tribune, page B-5:
  • Timing in the offered fingernailful of cocaine, well cut and loose dropped into the hollow between my collarbones.2011, Stella Duffy, Singling Out The Couples:

Forms of fingernailful

pluralfingernailfuls
pluralfingernailsful

Origin of fingernailful

From fingernail + -ful.

Questions about fingernailful

What does fingernailful mean?
Fingernailful means enough to be stored under one's fingernail.
How do you use fingernailful in a sentence?
Clara gave me salts and bath oil and I continued examining the day in fingernailfuls.
What part of speech is fingernailful?
Fingernailful is a noun.
What is the plural of fingernailful?
The plural of fingernailful is fingernailfuls.

Words near fingernailful in the dictionary

  1. fingernail clam
  2. fingernail clams
  3. fingernail moon
  4. fingernail moons
  5. fingernailed
  6. fingernailful
  7. fingernailfuls
  8. fingernaillike
  9. fingernails
  10. fingernailsful
  11. fingernaily

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: fingernailful (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “fingernailful.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/fingernailful. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.