Hand tools have inspired a tool box full of metaphorical words and expressions. Here’s a list of many of those handy idioms.
1–5. angry/mad enough to chew nails/spit nails or ready to eat nails: enraged
6–7. another/final nail in the coffin: one of/the last of multiple factors that contribute to a failure
8–9. ax: a guitar or other instrument a musician might play while making a chopping motion (noun), or fire, reduce, remove, or terminate (verb)
10. ax to grind: grudge or motive
11. bed of nails: difficult or unpleasant situation
12. between the hammer and the anvil: facing a dilemma
13. bury the hatchet: end a dispute or feud
14. chisel (someone) out of: cheat to get something away from someone
15: chisel in: deceive or manipulate to get a share of something
16: chiseled: toned or well defined (as in facial features or body)
17. clamp down: impose controls or restrictions
18–19. coffin nail/coffin tack: a cigarette (or, rarely, a drink of liquor)
20. crowbar: insert or remove with force
21. drill: hit or propel with force
22. drill down: investigate or get to the root of
23. for want of a nail: abbreviation of a proverb illustrating that the lack of an insignificant part can have significant consequences for the whole
24–25. hammer (something) out: argue or negotiate toward an agreement, or play a piano loudly
26. hammer and tongs: with great determination and energy (as in “going at it hammer and tongs”)
27. hammer away: discuss something excessively or tediously
28. hammer home: press a point
29–30. hammer: a vehicle’s accelerator (noun), or do something with great force or persistence (verb, as in “I tried to hammer it into his thick skull”)
31. hard as nails: unfeeling or unsympathetic
32–33. has a screw loose/with a loose screw: is eccentric, mentally unbalanced, or strange/has eccentricities or is mentally unbalanced or strange
34. has one’s head screwed on right: is capable or sensible
35. hit the nail on the head: be accurate or right, or explain perceptively
36–37. nail: arrest or identify (or have sex with, but this sense is vulgar)
38. nail (one’s) colors to the mast: express opinion publicly (from the idea of attaching a flag to a ship’s mast to identify one’s national origin)
39. nail (something) down: agree on or accomplish something
40. nail (someone’s) ears back: severely scold someone
41–43. nail (someone)/nail (someone’s) hide to the wall, or nail (someone) to a cross: see “nail (someone’s) ears back”
44–45. nail (something) down: discover, or make certain or final or win decisively
46–49. nail Jell-O/jelly to a tree/the wall: try something futile (akin to “herd cats”)
50–51. on the nail: in full (as in “pay on the nail”), or under discussion (both British English)
52–53. put a wrench/monkey wrench into: disrupt or sabotage (the British English term is spanner)
54. put a nail in the coffin of (something): cause something to end or stop
55. put the hammer down: accelerate a vehicle
56–57. put/tighten the screws on (someone): pressure or threaten someone, or make something more difficult for someone
58. saw away at: move one’s arms as if in a sawing motion
59. saw wood: snore loudly
60. sawed off: short (said of a diminutive person or a shotgun with part of the barrel removed)
61–64. screw: cheat or deceive, or a jailer (also, copulate, or someone to copulate with, but these senses are vulgar)
65–66. screw around/off: waste time or act aimlessly
67–70. screw (someone) around/screw around with (someone): bother or harass (“screw around with (someone)” also means “copulate with” or “be promiscuous,” but these senses are vulgar)
71. screw around with (something): fiddle or play with
72. screw (one’s) courage to the sticking place: have courage or resolution
73. screw (someone) out of: cheat or deceive to deprive someone of something
74–75. screw (one) over: betray, or see “nail (one’s) ears back”
76. screw the pooch: make a significant mistake (vulgar)
77. screw up: make a mistake
78. screw up (one’s) courage: force (oneself) to be brave
79. screw up (one’s) face: make an unpleasant expression
80. screwed: in trouble
81–82. screwed up: made a mistake (verb phrase), or flawed or ruined (adjective)
83. take a hammering: suffer a severe attack or loss
84. tool: an unlikeable or easily deceived person
85. tool around: drive quickly but aimlessly
86. tools of the trade: whatever is associated with, or required to do, a job
87. tough as nails: determined
88. turn of the screw: an action that worsens a bad situation
89. under the hammer: for sale (alluding to an auctioneer’s hammer)
90. wrench: mechanic
Number 10 is incorrect. Having an ax to grind meant something similar to having an ulterior motive. A man comes to the knife sharpener with an ax that needs sharpening (grinding) and the sharpener says, here, you can do it yourself. And the man with the ax says, I don’t know how, can you show me? How did you do that again? In the end the man with the ax gets the man with the sharpener to do the job for him. A man with an ax to grind is someone who wants something he’s not telling you about openly.