finished to the finger-nail
Preserved but no longer current.
Meaning · English
Complete and perfect in every detail, to all the extremities. The allusion is obvious.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “finished to the finger-nail” mean?
Complete and perfect in every detail, to all the extremities. The allusion is obvious.
Is “finished to the finger-nail” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.