Hit the nail on the head

Origin of: Hit the nail on the head

Hit the nail on the head

Get to the precise point, to do or say something exactly right, its literal use of course as in carpentry must be centuries old, but its figurative use is first recorded in Heywood’s Proverbs (1546), “This hitteth the nail on the head.” The expression is often abbreviated as in to nail something or other, which means to execute something perfectly, and this usage dates from the late 19th century.