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I was watching YouTube and suddenly got an ad advertising the following - the ad is from Bloomberg

If they nail vaccinations, drugstores will be the heroes of 2021.

Checking the definition of nail in the dictionary does not make any sense to me

fasten with a nail or nails.
"the strips are simply nailed to the roof"
INFORMAL
detect or catch (someone, especially a suspected criminal).

Can someone explain what it means?

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    Lexico has Nail 4 verb informal Perform (an action or task) perfectly.
    – Weather Vane
    Mar 15, 2021 at 19:19
  • 2
    Did you check all the definitions of "nail" in that dictionary? Did you check another dictionary? I checked a few of the top results for the "nail definition" Google search, and every single one of them contains a definition of "nail" that makes sense here.
    – NotThatGuy
    Mar 16, 2021 at 10:02
  • Does this answer your question? meaning of the word "nail" in context
    – Alexei Levenkov
    Mar 17, 2021 at 3:24
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    Does this answer your question? What does "Nailed it" mean?
    – OmarL
    Mar 17, 2021 at 12:11
  • it's like saying "hit a bullseye"
    – Fattie
    Mar 18, 2021 at 12:11

1 Answer 1

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"Nail" here is a colloquial/slang term meaning to complete or perform something very successfully or near perfectly. It (probably) derives from the expression "to hit the nail on the head"

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    Or, colloquially, "Nailed it!".
    – waltinator
    Mar 16, 2021 at 17:13
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    You Nailed that answer
    – Tyler Selden
    Mar 16, 2021 at 23:27
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    @waltinator: Note that "Nailed it!" in particular is often used sarcastically in reference to doing something very poorly. See for example the Netflix series by that name.
    – Kevin
    Mar 17, 2021 at 0:09

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