hit the nail on the head - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

hit the nail on the head (third-person singular simple present hits the nail on the head, present participle hitting the nail on the head, simple past and past participle hit the nail on the head)

1. (idiomatic) To identify something exactly; to arrive at exactly the right answer.

   He hit the nail on the head when he said the problem was the thermostat.

   • 1593, Gabriel Harvey, Pierce's Supererogation, or A New Praise Of The Old Ass, page 291:

     "Scotte's discovery of Witchcraft dismasketh sundry egregious impostures, and in certaine principall chapters, and speciall passages, hitteth the nayle on the head with a witnesse."

• nail the hammer on the head (rare)
• nail it

• on the dot
• on the nose