doornails
Large-headed rivets
Doornails are large-headed nails once used to stud doors for strength or decoration.
The word survives almost exclusively in the idiom dead as a doornail, meaning completely and unquestionably dead.
Why doornails specifically became the standard of deadness is unclear—perhaps because such nails, once hammered flat, couldn't be reused.
No longer alive
- lifelessDevoid of animation
- defunctNo longer existing
- deceasedNo longer living
- expiredNo longer in effect
extinct · inanimate · departed · perished · finality · irrevocable · conclusive · definitive
Swinging joint hardware
- knockerDoor-mounted striking device
- latchDoor-securing catch
- boltThreaded rod for nuts
- locksetComplete door-securing assembly
handle · escutcheon · deadbolt · hasp · brad · fastener · stud · rivet
Old and outdated
- archaicBelonging to earlier times
- outdatedNo longer in use
- anachronisticWrongly placed in time
- bygoneOf earlier times
relic · disused · old-fashioned · outmoded · vintage · historical · medieval · forgotten
dead
No longer alive
expired · extinct · inanimate · departed · perished · finality · irrevocable · conclusive · definitive · absolute
hinges
Swinging joint hardware
lockset · handle · escutcheon · deadbolt · hasp · brad · fastener · stud · rivet · clinched
antiquated
Old and outdated
- archaicBelonging to earlier times
- outdatedNo longer in use
- anachronisticWrongly placed in time
bygone · relic · disused · old-fashioned · outmoded · vintage · historical · medieval · forgotten · superseded
- dead as a doornailUtterly and certainly lifeless
- deader than a doornailExtremely, unquestionably deceased
- as dead as a doornailEntirely devoid of vitality
- dumb as a doornailProfoundly unintelligent expression