treenail, trenail, n.
(ˈtriːneɪl, ˈtrɛn(ə)l)
Forms: 3–5 trenayl(e, 6 treenale, 7 trey naile, treenaile, tre-naile, tree-nell, 8 treenel, trenel, 7– treenail, trenail; β. 7–9 trennel, trunnel, (7–8 trunel, 8 trundle), 9 trennail.
[f. tree n. + nail n.
Some confusion seems to have existed between this word and trundle (small wheel or roller); cf. the trun- forms, and trundles in sense ‘cylindrical pins or staves forming teeth of lantern-wheel’.]
A cylindrical pin of hard wood used in fastening timbers together, esp. in shipbuilding and other work where the materials are exposed to the action of water.
| 1295 Exch. Accts. Bundle 5. No. 21 (P.R.O.) [Accts. of building a galley at Lyme.] In loco ij. operariorum per ij. septimanas qui perforaverunt Galeam et imposuerunt trenayl..iiij. sol. In iij. miliariis de trenayl emptis vj. sol. et. ix. den. 1495 Naval Acc. Hen. VII (1896) 164 C di Tre nayles xij{supd}. [1561–3 in Rogers Agric. & Prices (1882) III. 414/2–4 Tree nails, 6 m. 30 inch {at} c 2/6... 15 m 16 inch {at} c 1/4... 6 c 24 inch {at} 2/-.] 1571 Wills & Inv. N.C. (Surtees) I. 361, iij houndrethe treenales viij{supd}. 1627 Capt. Smith Seaman's Gram. ii. 4 The other parts of those plankes are made fast with good Tree-nailes and Trunnions of well seasoned timber. 1691 T. H[ale] Acc. New Invent. 118 Trenails. 1861 Smiles Engineers II. 39 note, Holes being bored through every piece of stone, one course was further bound to another by oak trenails. 1862 M. Hopkins Hawaii 98 The English seamen seizing some wooden treenails, struck the natives with them. 1864 Daily Tel. 30 July, The line was opened in 1854, and the chairs were then secured to the sleepers by Ransome's trenails. |
| β c 1635 N. Boteler Dial. Sea Services (1685), Trennels. 1691 T. H[ale] Acc. New Invent. 22 The fastening of our Plank we perform with wooden Trunnels. 1711 W. Sutherland Shipbuild. Assist. 39 The Plank..fasten'd to the Timbers..with Trennels or Pins of Wood. 1769 Nat. Hist. in Ann. Reg. 100 note, Great square logs of pine, laid one upon another, and pinned together with oak trunels. 1776 G. Semple Building in Water 95 These Belts are to be..pinned with Oak Trundles of about 3/4 Inch Diameter. 1828 Cunningham N.S. Wales 67 Cargoes consisting of wool, skins,..trennails, and hides. |
b. attrib.| 1497 Naval Acc. Hen. VII (1896) 313, ij lode of Trenayle wode. 1863 P. Barry Dockyard Econ. 110 Seventeenth in order stand the trenail-houses. For the year the expenditure in these houses was {pstlg}4,411 11s. 103/4d. 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Tree-nail wedge, a cross is cut in the tree-nail end, and wedges driven in, caulked. |
Hence
ˈtreenail v., trans. to fasten or secure (timbers) with treenails. (Chiefly in
pa. pple.)
| 1627 Capt. Smith Seaman's Gram. ii. 14 All the plankes to be treenailed to the beames. 1633 T. James Voy. 76 She was ready to be boulted and trenneld. 1793 Smeaton Edystone L. §38 The balks, in all their intersections with each other, trenailed together. 1834 Gentl. Mag. CIV. i. 94/2 The timber head of a vessel,..built chiefly of oak timber, with some elm and fir, clinker built, and trunnelled. |