Nail (unit)
Template:Short description A nail, as a unit of cloth measurement, is generally a sixteenth of a yard or 2Template:Frac inches (5.715 cm).<ref name="Arnold1850">Template:Cite book</ref> The nail was apparently named after the practice of hammering brass nails into the counter at shops where cloth was sold.<ref name="White1874">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Gove2006">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="McClure's magazine">Template:Cite book</ref> On the other hand, R D Connor, in The weights and measures of England (p 84) states that the nail was the 16th part of a Roman foot, i.e., digitus or finger, although he provides no reference to support this.<ref name="Connor1987">Template:Cite book</ref> Zupko's A dictionary of weights and measures for the British Isles (p 256) states that the nail was originally the distance from the thumbnail to the joint at the base of the thumb, or alternately, from the end of the middle finger to the second joint.<ref name="Zupko1985">Template:Cite book</ref>
An archaic usage of the term nail is as a sixteenth of a (long) hundredweight for mass, or 1 clove of 7 pound avoirdupois (3.175 kg).<ref name="Zupko1985" />
The nail in literatureEdit
Explanation: Katherine and Petruchio are purchasing new clothes for Bianca's wedding. Petruchio is concerned that Katharine's dress has too many frills, wonders what it will cost, and suspects that he has been cheated. Katherine says she likes it, and complains that Petruchio is making a fool of her. The tailor repeats Katherine's words: Sir, she says you're making a fool of her. Petruchio then launches into the above-quoted tirade. Monstrous may be a double-entendre for cuckold. The half-yard, quarter and nail were divisions of the yard used in cloth measurement.<ref name="ShurgotOwens1998">Template:Cite book</ref>