nailful
nailful noun: enough to be stored under or on one's fingernail.
Noun
nailful (plural nailfuls or nailsful)
- Enough to be stored under or on one's fingernail.
- Sovey rushed inside and dashed a couple of nailsful of water into the burning ventilator, but to no purpose.1926, Glimpses of Huron Shore in Early Days and Story of Harrisville
- She was clawing at his undershirt, ripping the thin cotton and piercing his skin with her nails, digging into the flesh and gouging out crescent slivers of skin and blood, picking him apart, nailful by nailful.1988, Catherine Dai, Bound feet: stories of contemporary Taiwan, page 81
- Synonyms:
- fingernailful
Examples of nailful in a sentence
- The man smiled, took out his snuff box and drew in a few nailfuls.2009, Linus Tongwo Asong, Salvation Colony, page 24:
- Rosa kissed Mercedes on the lips then took a further nailful and offered it to Jack who shook his head.2010, Bill Vidal, The Aztec, page 73:
Synonyms of nailful
Forms of nailful
| plural | nailfuls |
|---|---|
| plural | nailsful |
Origin of nailful
From nail + -ful.
Questions about nailful
- What does nailful mean?
- Nailful means enough to be stored under or on one's fingernail.
- How do you use nailful in a sentence?
- The man smiled, took out his snuff box and drew in a few nailfuls.
- What part of speech is nailful?
- Nailful is a noun.
- What is the plural of nailful?
- The plural of nailful is nailfuls.
Words near nailful in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: nailful (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.
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Cite this entry: “nailful.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/nailful. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.