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You are here: Home / Language / What Does the Expression “Dead As a Doornail” Mean and Where Did the Idiom Come From?

What Does the Expression “Dead As a Doornail” Mean and Where Did the Idiom Come From?

July 31, 2020 by Karen Hill

When metal nails were introduced to construction, they were hand tooled, which made them very rare and equally expensive.

When an aging house or barn with metal nails was torn down it was important to collect and reuse the nails.

Because previous carpenters had bent the sharp end of the doornails for safety and to stabilize them against constant opening and closing, they were useless for recycling, which made them “dead.”

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Filed Under: Language

About Karen Hill

Karen Hill is a freelance writer, editor, and columnist. Born in New York, her work has appeared in the Examiner, Yahoo News, Buzzfeed, among others.

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