wing nut
or wing·nut
- a nut having two flat, widely projecting pieces such that it can be readily tightened with the thumb and forefinger.
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Origin of wing nut
First recorded in 1895–1900
Also called butterfly nut, thumbnut.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for wingnut
Contemporary Examples
His views might be extreme, but he did not come off as a wingnut while presenting them.
Rep. Steve Stockman (R-TX) is a grifter and a wingnut, but is he possibly a felon too?
This idea is really the spawn of Mark Levin, the wingnut radio host, who has (of course) written a book about it.
Well, we learned something new about what's going on in wingnut land.
Floridians will die so that he can be first in the wingnut line.
The Resistance Begins: Rick Scott Announces Florida Won't Take Medicaid MoneyMichael Tomasky
July 2, 2012
Historical Examples
It has no latch and the throttle lever is held in any desired setting by the wingnut and quadrant shown in figure 18.
The 'Pioneer': Light Passenger Locomotive of 1851John H. White
wing nut
- a threaded nut tightened by hand by means of two flat lugs or wings projecting from the central bodyAlso called: butterfly nut
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for wingnut
n.
"nut with flared sides for turning with the thumb and forefinger;" so called for its shape. Meaning "weird person" recorded by 1989, probably not from the literal sense but from the secondary sense of nut, influenced perhaps by slang senses of wing in wing-ding "wild party," originally "fit, spasm" (1937). An earlier, British, sense of wingnut was "person with large, protruding ears" (1986).
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper