wiggle nail
- noun
- Specialized
- The carpenter hammered a wiggle nail across the joint to fasten the boards together.
Examples
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We used several wiggle nails to quickly assemble the crates.
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I need a few wiggle nails for this project.
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He secured the wooden frame with a wiggle nail for extra support.
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The carpenter uses wiggle nails to secure the wood.
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The carpenter hammered a wiggle nail across the joint to fasten the boards together.
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He secured the wooden frame with a wiggle nail for extra support.
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We used several wiggle nails to quickly assemble the crates.
Synonyms
A thin pointed piece of metal with a flat head used to hold things together
A small wavy strip of metal with sharp points that joins and holds pieces of wood together
Surface Forms
Morphology
The compounds 'wiggle' + 'nail' clearly signal a type of fastener (nail) and suggest motion or a particular installation action (wiggle), so a learner would guess it is a fastening item related to movement. However, the precise form—an elongated corrugated strip with sharp points hammered across joints—and the specific technical use are not directly derivable from the constituents, making the meaning only partially predictable.
Etymology
Wiggle nail is a thin metal strip with many sharp points that carpenters hammer across a joint. When the points bite in the strip seems to 'wiggle' into the wood, so the words wiggle and nail give a clear picture and help you remember it is used to 'fasten' boards together.