Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A short nail with a thick head used to protect the soles of shoes or boots.
- adjective Having or decorated with a raised pattern of bumps resembling such nails.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A short thick nail with a pointed tang and a large head, used for nailing the soles of heavy boots and shoes.
- noun A clownish person: used in contempt.
- To furnish or fasten with hobnails.
- To tread roughly upon, as with heavy hobnailed shoes.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun A short, sharp-pointed, large-headed nail, -- used in shoeing horses and for studding the soles of heavy shoes.
- noun A clownish person; a rustic.
- noun (Med.) a disease in which the liver is shrunken, hard, and covered with projections like hobnails; one of the forms of cirrhosis of the liver.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A short
nail with a thick head, typically used inboot soles. - verb To fit with hobnails.
- verb transitive To
tread down roughly, as with hobnailed shoes.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb supply with hobnails
- noun a short nail with a thick head; used to protect the soles of boots
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
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Examples
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But while Heat raised an eyebrow, Holy Moly – like Popbitch – applied a hobnail boot.
Jamie East: I didn't sell half of Holy Moly to Endemol without TV in mind 2011
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"This legislation stamps on all that with a clunking, hobnail boot." ...
Labour's restrictions on visitors diminish the cultural life of the nation 2009
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All the beautiful little hints of intrigue were stomped down with movie-length hobnail boots.
MIND MELD: SciFi TV Shows That Deserve A Remake (with Videos) 2010
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If all the generals put away their hobnail boots, war would forever be put away.
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This did not work out the way I thought it was going to, as a matter of fact the dark thing only stepped on my chest a couple of times with its hobnail feet and then rolled me back into the opposite direction, with very little effort I might add.
The Smelly Rug Darryl Price 2011
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Well, in so doing they present to the world their backsides to which the world should now administer its well-placed hobnail boot.
Archive 2008-04-06 2008
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OK OK, I'll get a pair of hobnail boots and practice goose-stepping and idol-worshipping, so that I can get along better with the Obama people.
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* PB taiks a inglish brekfuss tee no mlik wib hobnail bikky *
i flossez - Lolcats 'n' Funny Pictures of Cats - I Can Has Cheezburger? 2010
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The filibuster will be there long after I've been thrown in the hole, because it's like a big old hobnail-boot ass-kicking machine.
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Well, in so doing they present to the world their backsides to which the world should now administer its well-placed hobnail boot.
Olympic Censorship 2008
1727251724 commented on the word hobnail
I think that
"A short, sharp-pointed, large-headed nail, -- used in shoeing houses and for studding the soles of heavy shoes."
should probably be
"A short, sharp-pointed, large-headed nail, -- used in shoeing horses and for studding the soles of heavy shoes."
One shoes HORSES, not HOUSES.
November 1, 2011
hernesheir commented on the word hobnail
Yet, one may readily purchase house slippers at any department store.
November 1, 2011
bilby commented on the word hobnail
My house has footings.
November 2, 2011
bilby commented on the word hobnail
BTW the warty ceramics is fugly.
November 2, 2011
erinmckean commented on the word hobnail
The houses are now unshod. Thanks!
November 3, 2011
hernesheir commented on the word hobnail
Hey bilby: some other uninspiring visual examples of bygone American glassware can be perused at depression glass, milk glass and vaseline glass. The white hobnail glass shown here isn't to my liking either. So-called Vaseline glass contains Uranium, which causes it to fluoresce under ultraviolet light.
November 4, 2011