HOBNAILING

Verb

hobnailing

present participle of hobnail

Source: Wiktionary

HOBNAIL

Hob"nail`, n. Etym: [1st hob + nail.]

1. A short, sharp-pointed, large-headed nail, -- used in shoeing houses and for studding the soles of heavy shoes.

2. A clownish person; a rustic. Milton. Hobnail liver (Med.), a disease in which the liver is shrunken, hard, and covered with projections like hobnails; one of the forms of cirrhosis of the liver.

Hob"nail`, v. t.

Definition: To tread down roughly, as with hobnailed shoes. Your rights and charters hobnailed into slush. Tennyson.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition