doornail

American

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

noun

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

idioms

dead as a doornail, stone-dead.

After midnight, the town is dead as a doornail.

doornail British

/ ˈdɔːˌneɪl /

noun

dead beyond any doubt

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

doornail More Idioms

see dead as a doornail.

Etymology

Origin of doornail

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

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.

See Examples For:

doornail

He noted that he believed Merit Street was already “dead as a doornail when the bankruptcy was filed,” according to the Hollywood Reporter.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 12, 2026

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

From BBC ● Mar. 3, 2024

As then-Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky put it: “It’s dead as a doornail out there.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 19, 2023

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

From New York Times ● Sep. 8, 2022

A phrase that’s not just overused, but depressing. dead as a doornail.

From "Woe Is I" by Patricia T. O'Conner

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023