Nut Meaning
/nʌt/Definition, CEFR level A2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounAny of various hard-shelled seeds or hard, dry fruits from various families of plants.
nounAny of various hard-shelled seeds or hard, dry fruits from various families of plants., Such a fruit that is indehiscent.
Sentence Examples
He's a car nut. Ask him anything.
Eliminating the deficit will be a hard nut to crack.
He used a metal wrench to tighten the loose nut.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The clever squirrel cracked open the hard shell of the ____ to get the small seed inside.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The mechanic tightens the ____ with a wrench to ensure the wheel is securely attached.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English note, nute, from Old English hnutu, from Proto-West Germanic *hnut, from Proto-Germanic *hnuts (“nut”), from a root *knu- possibly shared with Proto-Celtic *knūs and Latin nux (“nut”). Based on the form of the nouns and the restriction of the root to Germanic, Celtic and Italic, it has been argued to be of non-Indo-European (substrate) origin. See also West Frisian nút, Dutch noot, German Nuss, Danish nød, Swedish nöt, Norwegian nøtt.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"As the bolt tightens into the nut, it pulls the tenon on the side rail into the mortise in the bedpost and locks them together. There are also some European beds that reverse the bolt and nut by setting the nut into the bedpost with the bolt inserted into a slotted area in the side of the rail."
— 1998, Brian Hingley, Furniture Repair & Refinishing, page 95:
"Off one's nut—crazy; mad. S. Nut is a slang term for the head."
— 1891, James Main Dixon, Dictionary of Idiomatic English Phrases, page 226:
"Let the Cream get firmly in her nut the idea that Sir Roderick Glossop was not the butler, the whole butler and nothing but the butler, and disaster, as I saw it, loomed."
— 1960, P. G. Wodehouse, Jeeves in the Offing, chapter V:
"Which one of you nuts has got any guts?"
— 1975, Lawrence Hauben, Bo Goldman, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (motion picture), spoken by McMurphy (Jack Nicholson):
"[...] The Tentigo, head or Nut of the Clitoris, covered by the Nymphes, as by a foreskin and the impaſſable paſſage of it [...]"
— 1665, Dr. Chamberlain's Midwifes Practice, page 54:
Explore More A2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The clever squirrel cracked open the hard shell of the ____ to get the small seed inside.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The mechanic tightens the ____ with a wrench to ensure the wheel is securely attached.