Jump To:

• 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.

---

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.

---

N.U.T. ³ American  

abbreviation

British.

1. National Union of Teachers.

---

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

---

verb

1. (intr) to gather nuts

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

NUT ² British  

abbreviation

1. National Union of Teachers

---

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.

---

nut More Idioms  

More idioms and phrases containing nut

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

---

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• nutlike
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• nuts
  plural

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

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

One way to understand molecular handedness is to think about a screw and a nut.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 28, 2026

I love salty, earthy, nutty and bittersweet toppings, like nut butters, funky cheeses and dark chocolate.

From Salon ● Jul. 20, 2026

When the allegations were published in a 2019 book, the Republican billionaire called her a "nut job" and claimed she had fabricated her case.

From Barron's ● Jul. 8, 2026

Which is why the councillor tasked with getting houses built in the county regards the rules as "a sledgehammer to crack a nut".

From BBC ● Jun. 11, 2026

The beetle’s an attractive bug, with a body like a glossy nut.

From "The One and Only Ivan" by Katherine Applegate

And they have given their homes whimsical names such as Sea Castle, Nut House and A Turn of Fraise.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 22, 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

Dr Graur drew from a rich collection of ancient sources including the Pyramid Texts, Coffin Texts, and the Book of Nut and compared them alongside sophisticated simulations of the Egyptian night sky.

From Science Daily ● Apr. 10, 2024

Our hoverplanes are initially ignored by the commanders in the Nut, because in the past they’ve been little more trouble than flies buzzing around a honeypot.

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

Among them are former NUT general secretary Christine Blower, for Labour, and former Green Party leader Natalie Bennett, who will become the party's second peer in the House of Lords.

From BBC ● Sep. 9, 2019

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

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

The diet emphasizes fresh fruits and vegetables, fish, nuts, and olive oil — and limiting foods like red meat, cheese and sugar.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 16, 2026

Olive oil, nuts, seafood, and other Mediterranean diet staples are often expensive, which can put the Mediterranean diet out of reach.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 16, 2026

To make these sort of wild generalizations is just nuts.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 12, 2026

However, DUP leader Gavin Robinson responded saying that Murphy "should tighten his nuts" and that his party was "interested in delivering" for the people of Northern Ireland.

From BBC ● Jul. 31, 2026

Beginners are advised to start with the larger nuts, such as the Brazil nut, and then work their way downward in size, through the pecan, the cashew, and the hazelnut.

From "The Interrupted Tale" by Maryrose Wood

"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 have often gone hazel nutting when I was a boy," said her uncle.

From How We are Fed A Geographical Reader by James Franklin Chamberlain

Their father was out with some of his men looking after Christmas trees, and 97 as Bert and Nan had gone nutting, Flossie and Freddie looked about to find some amusement of their own.

From The Bobbsey Twins at Cedar Camp by Laura Lee Hope

Related Words

• kernel