英语词汇dead as a doornail的起源、历史背景-英语词源词典

dead as a doornail. Since ordinary nails aren’t used in mak- ing doors, perhaps the “nail” in this phrase, which can be traced all the way back to 1350, was a small metal plate nailed on a door that visitors pounded with the knockers attached to it when announcing their arrival. Life would eventually be pounded out of the “nail” in that way. Then again the “nail” could be the heavy-handed decorative nails outer doors were studded with, though why these doornails would be regarded as any “deader” than, say, coffin nails is a mystery. It has even been suggested that since nails weren’t ordinarily used for doors, the phrase means “dead as something that never exist- ed.” Anyway, people are still getting good mileage out of the expression, as did Langland in Piers Plowman, Shakespeare more than once, and Dickens in A Christmas Carol. Dumb as a doornail and deaf as a doornail are variations on the phrase that appeared after its coining.

词汇	dead as a doornail
词源	dead as a doornail. Since ordinary nails aren’t used in mak- ing doors, perhaps the “nail” in this phrase, which can be traced all the way back to 1350, was a small metal plate nailed on a door that visitors pounded with the knockers attached to it when announcing their arrival. Life would eventually be pounded out of the “nail” in that way. Then again the “nail” could be the heavy-handed decorative nails outer doors were studded with, though why these doornails would be regarded as any “deader” than, say, coffin nails is a mystery. It has even been suggested that since nails weren’t ordinarily used for doors, the phrase means “dead as something that never exist- ed.” Anyway, people are still getting good mileage out of the expression, as did Langland in Piers Plowman, Shakespeare more than once, and Dickens in A Christmas Carol. Dumb as a doornail and deaf as a doornail are variations on the phrase that appeared after its coining.
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