Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Plural form of hobnail.

Etymologies

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Examples

  • Some kinds of nails, such as those used for defending the soles of coarse shoes, called hobnails, require a particular form of the head, which is made by the stroke of a die.

    On the Economy of Machinery and Manufactures Charles Babbage 1831

  • The legionary is also wearing an apron of leather strips featuring metal plates hanging from his belt, and caligae, leather sandals with iron hobnails.

    Collector Coins Offer Enjoyment and Profit : Coin Collecting News 2010

  • They struggled with the flag, its three primary colors flapping in a wind, cross-illuminated by many beams of light that illustrated the whole piece, the ripples of muscle, the rents in the metal clothing, the hobnails in the worn combat boots, the twelve-foot rifles, all in the muted, fading green of military glory, its tarnish eroded by the ages.

    Dead Zero Stephen Hunter 2010

  • The legionary is also wearing an apron of leather strips featuring metal plates hanging from his belt, and caligae, leather sandals with iron hobnails.

    Collector Coins Offer Enjoyment and Profit : Coin Collecting News 2010

  • They struggled with the flag, its three primary colors flapping in a wind, cross-illuminated by many beams of light that illustrated the whole piece, the ripples of muscle, the rents in the metal clothing, the hobnails in the worn combat boots, the twelve-foot rifles, all in the muted, fading green of military glory, its tarnish eroded by the ages.

    Dead Zero Stephen Hunter 2010

  • A jackboot is a laceless military boot that comes almost to the knee; whose sole is studded with steel hobnails and whose heel is rimmed with steel.

    Some Thoughts on Jackbooted Thugs 2007

  • As a boy and a man, he was a cobbler by trade, working the hobnails and lacing, but his passion was in shaping the instruments of sound whenever he could.

    Jesse's Violin 2009

  • All that remains intact is metal: the clicking heel studs, the little bootlace eyes, and a million hobnails, tacks and studs.

    Wildwood Roger Deakin 2009

  • All that remains intact is metal: the clicking heel studs, the little bootlace eyes, and a million hobnails, tacks and studs.

    Wildwood Roger Deakin 2009

  • Like those of the lowest order of pawnbrokers, a commodity of rusty iron, a bay or two of hobnails, a few odd shoe-buckles, cashiered kail-pots, and fire-irons declared incapable of service, are quite sufficient to set him up.

    Chronicles of the Canongate 2008

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