This fold protects the delicate growing part, or root, of the nail; and if it is shoved back too vigorously, the root may become exposed, or even inflamed and infected, and cause one of those extremely irritating little sores known as a "hangnail."
"A Handbook of Health"
Woods Hutchinson
But it did matter to me that I had to dine on this hangnail pared from a sheep.
"Eating in Two or Three Languages"
Irvin S. Cobb
He said in an audible tone that the New Yorker was a human hangnail, no matter where he was born.
"Somewhere in Red Gap"
Harry Leon Wilson