nuts

[nuhts]

interjection

1. Also nertz. (used to express disgust, defiance, disapproval, despair.)

adjective

1. insane; crazy.

nuts

/ nʌts /

adjective

1. a slang word for insane

2. slang,  extremely fond (of) or enthusiastic (about)

interjection

1. slang,  an expression of disappointment, contempt, refusal, or defiance

plural noun

1. a slang word for testicles See testicle

Word History and Origins

Origin of nuts¹

First recorded in 1900–05; plural of nut

Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

1. be nuts about,

   1. to be extremely or excessively enthusiastic about; be fervent in one's admiration of.

      Both of them are nuts about chamber music.

   2. to be deeply in love with.

      He's nuts about his new girlfriend.

Example Sentences

“I know that’s not as interesting as muzzling a comedian, but it’s so important to have a free press, and it is nuts that we aren’t paying more attention to it.”

From Salon

Back before California was settled by Europeans and others, the Miwok and Nisenan subsisted on a hunter-gatherer diet of acorns, venison, salmon, pine nuts, elderberries, and other berries and plants.

From Los Angeles Times

Suitable nuts have had to be sourced nationwide for the Northamptonshire-based contest after many local ones fell long before autumn arrived.

From BBC

Why give the Americans a golf course type that they were used to — soft, grassy fairways and smooth-rolling greens — when the links courses usually drove them nuts.

From Los Angeles Times

“But making music and making two albums saved me. I’d have gone nuts without music.”

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• batty 
• insane 
• mad 
• nutty