coffin nail
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of coffin nail
First recorded in 1885–90
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
But the New York Times hammers a coffin nail so hard that Dee Dee and Barry fear their future will be nothing but understudy gigs on the dinner theater circuit.
From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 3, 2020
Losing customers who would be less likely to pay a congestion fee to drive in would be another coffin nail.
From Seattle Times • Apr. 13, 2018
Third coffin nail was a rusty West Coast labor problem.
From Time Magazine Archive
But that hope was as dead as a coffin nail.
From By Right of Sword by Marchmont, Arthur W. (Arthur Williams)
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
