doornail

American  

[dawr-neyl, dohr-] / ˈdɔrˌneɪl, ˈdoʊr- /

noun

1. a large-headed nail formerly used for strengthening or ornamenting doors.

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idioms

1. dead as a doornail, stone-dead.

   After midnight, the town is dead as a doornail.

doornail British  

/ ˈdɔːˌneɪl /

noun

1. dead beyond any doubt

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doornail More Idioms  

1. see dead as a doornail.

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Etymology

Origin of doornail

First recorded in 1300–50, doornail is from the Middle English word dornail. See door, nail

Example Sentences

The atmosphere in the O2 was as dead as a doornail hammered into a Dodo and buried in a concrete bunker.

From BBC

The pangrams from yesterday’s Spelling Bee were doornail and ordinal.

From New York Times

"When they opened that coffin, there he was, dead as a doornail."

From Fox News

A dead cell is, to echo Dickens’s description of Marley, “as dead as a doornail”.

From Nature

Now, he said, “we’re deader than a doornail. I haven’t seen anything from my customers in three weeks. The factories in China have shut down or the sailings have been canceled.”

From Los Angeles Times