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• nut
  nut

  noun

  a dry fruit consisting of an edible kernel or meat enclosed in a woody or leathery shell.
• Nut
  Nut

  noun

  the goddess of the sky, sometimes shown as a cow bearing Ra on her back and the stars on her underside.
• N.U.T.
  N.U.T.

  abbreviation

  National Union of Teachers.
• NUT
  NUT

  abbreviation

  National Union of Teachers

nut

¹ American  

[nuht] / nʌt /

noun

• nuts
  plural

1. a dry fruit consisting of an edible kernel or meat enclosed in a woody or leathery shell.

2. the kernel itself.

3. Botany. a hard, indehiscent, one-seeded fruit, as the chestnut or the acorn.

4. any of various devices or ornaments resembling a nut.

5. a block, usually of metal and generally square or hexagonal, perforated with a threaded hole so that it can be screwed down on a bolt to hold together objects through which the bolt passes.

6. Slang. the head.

7. Slang.

   1. a person who is very enthusiastic about something; buff; enthusiast; devotee.

      He's a real circus nut.

   2. an extremely concerned or zealous person.

      My boss is a nut on double-checking everything.

8. Slang.

   1. a foolish, silly, or eccentric person.

   2. an insane person; psychotic.

9. Slang: Vulgar. a testis.

10. Informal.

    1. the operating expenses, usually figured weekly, of a theatrical production or other commercial enterprise; a break-even point.

    2. the total cost of producing a theatrical production or of forming and opening any new business venture.

11. Music. (in instruments of the violin family)

    1. the ledge, as of ebony, at the upper end of the fingerboard, over which the strings pass.

    2. the movable piece at the lower end of the bow, by means of which the hairs may be slackened or tightened.

12. Printing. en.

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verb (used without object)

nutted, nutting

1. to seek for or gather nuts.

   to go nutting in late autumn.

idioms

1. off one's nut,

   1. Sometimes Offensive. foolish, silly, or insane.

   2. confused; unreasonable.

   3. mistaken or wrong.

      You're off your nut if you think such a plan can succeed.

2. hard nut to crack, Also tough nut to crack

   1. a problem difficult to solve; a formidable undertaking.

   2. a person difficult to know, understand, or convince.

3. from soup to nuts. soup.

Nut ² American  

[noot] / nut /

noun

Egyptian Religion.

1. the goddess of the sky, sometimes shown as a cow bearing Ra on her back and the stars on her underside.

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N.U.T. ³ American  

abbreviation

British.

1. National Union of Teachers.

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nut ¹ British  

/ nʌt /

noun

1. a dry one-seeded indehiscent fruit that usually possesses a woody wall

2. (not in technical use) any similar fruit, such as the walnut, having a hard shell and an edible kernel

3. the edible kernel of such a fruit

4. slang

   1. an eccentric person

   2. a person who is mentally disturbed

5. a slang word for head

6. slang to be extremely angry; go into a rage

7. slang mad, crazy, or foolish

8. a person or thing that presents difficulties (esp in the phrase a tough or hard nut to crack )

9. a small square or hexagonal block, usu. metal, with a threaded hole through the middle for screwing on the end of a bolt

10. Also called: chock. mountaineering a variously shaped small metal block, usually a wedge or hexagonal prism (originally an ordinary engineer's nut) with a wire or rope loop attached, for jamming into a crack to provide security

11. Also called (US and Canadian): frog. music

    1. the ledge or ridge at the upper end of the fingerboard of a violin, cello, etc, over which the strings pass to the tuning pegs

    2. the end of a violin bow that is held by the player

12. printing another word for en

13. a small usually gingery biscuit

14. a small piece of coal

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verb

1. (intr) to gather nuts

2. slang (tr) to butt (someone) with the head

NUT ² British  

abbreviation

1. National Union of Teachers

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nut Scientific  

/ nŭt /

1. A dry, indehiscent simple fruit consisting of one seed surrounded by a hard and thick pericarp (fruit wall). The seed does not adhere to the pericarp but is connected to it by the funiculus. A nut is similar to an achene but larger. Acorns, beechnuts, chestnuts, and hazelnuts are true nuts. Informally, other edible seeds or dry fruits enclosed in a hard or leathery shell are also called nuts, though they are not true nuts. For instance, an almond kernel is actually the seed of a drupe. Its familiar whitish shell is an endocarp found within the greenish fruit of the almond tree. Peanuts are actually individual seeds from a seed pod called a legume.

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nut More Idioms  

More idioms and phrases containing nut

• drive someone crazy (nuts)
• from soup to nuts
• hard nut to crack

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• nutlike
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• nuts
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of nut

before 900; 1900–05 nut for def. 8b; Middle English nute, Old English hnutu; cognate with Dutch noot, German Nuss, Old Norse hnot; akin to Latin nux

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Explanation

A nut is a kind of fruit made of a large, edible seed with a very hard shell around it. The nuts that squirrels typically gather (sometimes storing them temporarily in their cheek pouches) are acorns. It might seem strange that a nut is a fruit, since until they've been cracked open, most nuts are as hard and inedible as rocks. Think of the meat of a walnut or almond that hides inside — this is the edible seed within the fruit. If someone calls you a nut, or describes you as nuts or nutty, they think you're crazy or wacky, and when you refer to "a tough nut to crack," you're talking about a tricky problem.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

nut Nut NUT nuts nutted nutting

It’s like a squirrel looking for a nut — it’s certain to be found.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 13, 2026

Despite the success of Premier League sides in the Europa League and Conference League, the Champions League is a harder nut to crack.

From BBC ● Oct. 22, 2026

“Cracking that nut and having American Express being relevant to this very large and growing population was a major breakthrough for us,” Le Caillec said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 25, 2026

Exactly when people first began using betel nut in this way has been difficult to establish because areca seeds rarely survive in the archaeological record.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 10, 2026

The Land Rover parked under the kola nut tree, and her mother climbed out.

From "Half of a Yellow Sun" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

“I remember going into one for a Cheerios commercial and being like, ‘Do you have Honey Nut Cheerios?

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 4, 2026

Further southeast, in the On Nut neighbourhood, AFP reporters saw locals wading through knee-high flood waters along a road, as well as filling up sandbags to take home.

From Barron's ● Sep. 26, 2026

One serving of Honey Nut Cheerios, for example, contains 12 grams.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 7, 2026

Nut bans on flights may in fact give passengers a false sense of security, the authors say in the BMJ journal Archives of Disease in Childhood.

From BBC ● Oct. 16, 2024

We’ve nicknamed the mountain the Nut since I relayed Plutarch’s “tough nut to crack” comment to the weary and discouraged rebel leaders here.

From "Mockingjay" by Suzanne Collins

They flew to Dana-Farber to consult with one of the doctors who discovered NUT carcinoma in the early 2000s.

From Seattle Times ● Feb. 9, 2024

Following more tests, he learned in September that he had NUT carcinoma — a rare diagnosis that “seems to be a random, unprovoked event,” according to the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Massachusetts.

From Seattle Times ● Feb. 9, 2024

For Off-White, Abloh has designed cowboy boots with the words “FOR WALKING” running up the calves, and a hex-nut-shaped ring engraved with the words “HEX NUT ring.”

From The New Yorker ● Mar. 11, 2019

The spymaster had been thinking of NUT, because of elephants and peanuts, but she stays mum.

From Slate ● Nov. 28, 2018

Mr.Wonka rushed on down the corridor, THE NUT ROOM, it said on the next door they came to.

From "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" by Roald Dahl

With that many purchases, even a blind squirrel will find some nuts.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 13, 2026

Dan Prosser from the Renegades Carnival Club said the preparations were "more like a lifestyle than just a hobby," adding his non-carnival friends think his devotion to the event is "absolutely nuts".

From BBC ● Nov. 7, 2026

That starts with the nuts and bolts, said Justine Gonzalez, who works in nonprofit advocacy for schools.

From Barron's ● Nov. 1, 2026

Goldie is interested in getting to the nuts and bolts right off the bat, with bullet points of your basic income and spending parameters, such as:

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 2, 2026

Dad clearly thought I was nuts, but he was going to do it anyway.

From "Klawde: Evil Alien Warlord Cat" by Johnny Marciano and Emily Chenoweth

"What comes next is the execution risk. There's a lot of details still to be nutted out."

From Barron's ● Jun. 19, 2026

Before even making it to the next left, we were pulled over by the PO-PO, who then called for back up and nutted up on us with an additional 6 cop cars!

From Time Magazine Archive

They are that already—and it's patent-lock nutted throughout, and the engine is that new kind that interlocks.

From The Motormaniacs by Lloyd Osbourne

BST14:17 58 min: Bordeaux reply by going close themselves, Saivet nutting the ball into the sidenetting after racing in front of Liverpool defenders to meet a corner at the near post.

From The Guardian ● Sep. 17, 2015

This was slapstick stuff and Houghton delivered the perfect punchline by nutting the ball into net from 12 yards.

From The Guardian ● Jun. 1, 2012

When the Zuni men had their wives and children established on the nutting grounds they returned to their fields.

From Time Magazine Archive

"I wanted to eat my dinner, and go nutting; but I never can do any thing."

From The Pearl of Peace or, The Little Peacemaker by Madeline Leslie

But the future general's boyhood was not all, nor even chiefly devoted to swimming and nutting.

From The Story of General Pershing by Everett T.

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