NAILS, in building, &c. small spikes of iron, brass, &c. which being driven into wood, serve to bind several pieces together, or to fasten something upon them.
Nails were made use of by the ancient Hebrews for cancelling bonds; and the ceremony was performed by striking them through the writing. This seems to be alluded to in Scripture, where God is said by our crucified Saviour to have "blotted out the hand-writing of ordinances that was against us, and to have taken it out of the way, nailing it to his cross," Col. ii. 14. For the cause and ceremony of driving the annual nail, or clavus annalis, among the Romans, see ANNALIS Clavis.