nailing

Pluralnailings (some meanings)

1. 1
   verb

   Present participle and gerund of nail.

   The carpenter is nailing planks across the broken doorway.

   Nailing the crate shut, he loaded it onto the truck.

   Note

   Every sense of the verb runs through this -ing form. With an object it means fixing one thing to another (nailing a board to a post); used alone it means simply driving nails. The slang senses travel with it too: catching someone, exposing a sham, pulling off a task flawlessly. So context decides between a carpenter nailing a joint and a student nailing an exam. Naming the fastening itself, it becomes the countable noun, plural nailings.

2. 2
   noununcountable

   A mechanical fastening made with nails, joining materials by driving nails into them.

   Careful nailing along the joints prevented the deck from warping.

   The inspector questioned the nailing on the rafters before approving the frame.

3. 3
   nounslangcountable

   An act of sexual intercourse, especially a vigorous or forceful one.

   He boasted to his friends about the nailing he'd had over the weekend.

   After a hurried nailing in the back room, they slipped out separately.

   Note

   Coarse slang, best kept to company where crude talk is welcome. It borrows the hammering force of the verb, and it usually comes with an evaluative adjective: someone wants or gets a good nailing. The same noun on a building site means a fastening made with nails, so an inspector's complaint about poor nailing is innocent. The slang reading needs a person in view, not a rafter.

Showing meanings only. Show all 3