Adjacent Words

Nut definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

NUT, n. [It seems to be allied to knot, a bunch or hard lump.]
1. The fruit of certain trees and shrubs, consisting of a hard shell inclosing a kernel. A nut is properly the pericarp of the fruit. Various kinds of nuts are distinguished; as walnut, chestnut, hazlenut, butternut.
2. In mechanics, a small cylinder or other body, with teeth or projections corresponding with the teeth or grooves of a wheel.
3. The projection near the eye of an anchor.
NUT, v.t. To gather nuts.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: usually large hard-shelled seed
2: Egyptian goddess of the sky
3: a small (usually square or hexagonal) metal block with internal screw thread to be fitted onto a bolt
4: half the width of an em [syn: en, nut]
5: a whimsically eccentric person [syn: crackpot, crank, nut, nut case, fruitcake, screwball]
6: someone who is so ardently devoted to something that it resembles an addiction; "a golf addict"; "a car nut"; "a bodybuilding freak"; "a news junkie" [syn: addict, nut, freak, junkie, junky]
7: one of the two male reproductive glands that produce spermatozoa and secrete androgens; "she kicked him in the balls and got away" [syn: testis, testicle, orchis, ball, ballock, bollock, nut, egg] v
1: gather nuts

Merriam Webster's

I. noun Etymology: Middle English nute, note, from Old English hnutu; akin to Old High German nuz nut and perhaps to Latin nux nut Date: before 12th century 1. a. (1) a hard-shelled dry fruit or seed with a separable rind or shell and interior kernel (2) the kernel of a nut b. a dry indehiscent one-seeded fruit with a woody pericarp 2. a. a hard problem or undertaking b. core, heart 3. a perforated block usually of metal that has an internal screw thread and is used on a bolt or screw for tightening or holding something 4. the ridge in a stringed instrument (as a violin) over which the strings pass on the upper end of the fingerboard 5. a small lump (as of butter) 6. a. a foolish, eccentric, or crazy person b. enthusiast <a movie nut> 7. plural nonsense — often used interjectionally 8. slang a person's head 9. usually vulgar testis 10. the amount of money that must be earned in order to break even 11. en 1 • nutlike adjective II. intransitive verb (nutted; nutting) Date: 1604 to gather or seek nuts

Oxford Reference Dictionary

abbr. (in the UK) National Union of Teachers.

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. & v. --n. 1 a a fruit consisting of a hard or tough shell around an edible kernel. b this kernel. 2 a pod containing hard seeds. 3 a small usu. square or hexagonal flat piece of metal or other material with a threaded hole through it for screwing on the end of a bolt to secure it. 4 sl. a person's head. 5 sl. a a crazy or eccentric person. b an obsessive enthusiast or devotee (a health-food nut). 6 a small lump of coal, butter, etc. 7 a a device fitted to the bow of a violin for adjusting its tension. b the fixed ridge on the neck of a stringed instrument over which the strings pass. 8 (in pl.) coarse sl. the testicles. --v.intr. (nutted, nutting) seek or gather nuts (go nutting). Phrases and idioms: do one's nut sl. be extremely angry or agitated. for nuts colloq. even tolerably well (cannot sing for nuts). nut cutlet a cutlet-shaped portion of meat-substitute, made from nuts etc. nut-house sl. a mental home or hospital. nut-oil an oil obtained from hazelnuts and walnuts and used in paints and varnishes. nuts and bolts colloq. the practical details. nut-tree any tree bearing nuts, esp. a hazel. off one's nut sl. crazy. Derivatives: nutlike adj. Etymology: OE hnutu f. Gmc

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Nut Nut, n. [OE. nute, note, AS. hnutu; akin to D. noot, G. nuss, OHG. nuz, Icel. hnot, Sw. n["o]t, Dan. n["o]d.] 1. (Bot.) The fruit of certain trees and shrubs (as of the almond, walnut, hickory, beech, filbert, etc.), consisting of a hard and indehiscent shell inclosing a kernel. 2. A perforated block (usually a small piece of metal), provided with an internal or female screw thread, used on a bolt, or screw, for tightening or holding something, or for transmitting motion. See Illust. of lst Bolt. 3. The tumbler of a gunlock. --Knight. 4. (Naut.) A projection on each side of the shank of an anchor, to secure the stock in place. Check nut, Jam nut, Lock nut, a nut which is screwed up tightly against another nut on the same bolt or screw, in order to prevent accidental unscrewing of the first nut. Nut buoy. See under Buoy. Nut coal, screened coal of a size smaller than stove coal and larger than pea coal; -- called also chestnut coal. Nut crab (Zo["o]l.), any leucosoid crab of the genus Ebalia as, Ebalia tuberosa of Europe. Nut grass (Bot.), a plant of the Sedge family (Cyperus rotundus, var. Hydra), which has slender rootstocks bearing small, nutlike tubers, by which the plant multiplies exceedingly, especially in cotton fields. Nut lock, a device, as a metal plate bent up at the corners, to prevent a nut from becoming unscrewed, as by jarring.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Nut Nut, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Nutted; p. pr. & vb. n. Nutting.] To gather nuts.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Buoy Buoy, n. [D. boei buoy, fetter, fr. OF. boie, buie, chain, fetter, F. bou['e]e a buoy, from L. boia. ``Boiae genus vinculorum tam ferreae quam ligneae.'' --Festus. So called because chained to its place.] (Naut.) A float; esp. a floating object moored to the bottom, to mark a channel or to point out the position of something beneath the water, as an anchor, shoal, rock, etc. Anchor buoy, a buoy attached to, or marking the position of, an anchor. Bell buoy, a large buoy on which a bell is mounted, to be rung by the motion of the waves. Breeches buoy. See under Breeches. Cable buoy, an empty cask employed to buoy up the cable in rocky anchorage. Can buoy, a hollow buoy made of sheet or boiler iron, usually conical or pear-shaped. Life buoy, a float intended to support persons who have fallen into the water, until a boat can be dispatched to save them. Nut or Nun buoy, a buoy large in the middle, and tapering nearly to a point at each end. To stream the buoy, to let the anchor buoy fall by the ship's side into the water, before letting go the anchor. Whistling buoy, a buoy fitted with a whistle that is blown by the action of the waves.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(nuts) 1. The firm shelled fruit of some trees and bushes are called nuts. Some nuts can be eaten. Nuts and seeds are good sources of vitamin E. N-COUNT see also groundnut, hazelnut, peanut 2. A nut is a thick metal ring which you screw onto a metal rod called a bolt. Nuts and bolts are used to hold things such as pieces of machinery together. If you want to repair the wheels you just undo the four nuts. ...nuts and bolts that haven't been tightened up. N-COUNT 3. If you describe someone as, for example, a football nut or a health nut, you mean that they are extremely enthusiastic about the thing mentioned. (INFORMAL) ...a football nut who spends thousands of pounds travelling to watch games. = fanatic N-COUNT: usu with supp 4. If you are nuts about something or someone, you like them very much. (INFORMAL) She's nuts about you. ADJ: v-link ADJ about n [feelings] 5. If you refer to someone as a nut, you mean that they are mad. (INFORMAL) There's some nut out there with a gun. N-COUNT [disapproval] 6. If you say that someone goes nuts or is nuts, you mean that they go crazy or are very foolish. (INFORMAL) You guys are nuts... A number of the French players went nuts, completely out of control. ADJ: v-link ADJ 7. If someone goes nuts, or in British English does their nut, they become extremely angry. (INFORMAL) My father would go nuts if he saw bruises on me... We heard your sister doing her nut. PHRASE: V inflects 8. If you talk about the nuts and bolts of a subject or an activity, you are referring to the detailed practical aspects of it rather than abstract ideas about it. He's more concerned about the nuts and bolts of location work. PHRASE: usu the PHR of n

Moby Thesaurus

Brazil nut, English walnut, Macadamia nut, acorn, addict, aficionado, alien, aliene, almond, almond paste, amande, amande douce, amandes mondees, amateur, authority, bean, bedlamite, beechnut, ben nut, berry, betel nut, bigot, bird seed, bitter almond, black walnut, blanched almonds, bonduc nut, borderline case, bring in, buff, bug, burnt almond, butternut, candlenut, case, cashew, cashew nut, character, chestnut, chinquapin, cobnut, coconut, collector, conk, connoisseur, corozo nut, crackbrain, crackpot, crank, critic, crop, crop herbs, cuckoo, cumara nut, cut, dement, demon, demoniac, devotee, dig, dika nut, dilettante, ding-a-ling, dome, eager beaver, eccentric, energumen, enthusiast, erratic, expert, faddist, fan, fanatic, fanatico, fiend, flake, flaxseed, fou, freak, fruit, gather, gather in, glean, goober, goober pea, grabble, grain, great one for, ground-pea, groundnut, harebrain, harvest, hay, hayseed, head, hermit, hickory nut, hobbyist, hobo, horse chestnut, hound, idiot, infatuate, issue, kernel, kola, kola nut, kook, linseed, litchi nut, lone wolf, loner, loon, loony, lunatic, lunatic fringe, madman, maniac, maverick, meat, meshuggenah, monomaniac, mow, natural, nigger toe, noddle, noggin, noisette, noix, non compos, noncompos, nonconformist, noodle, odd fellow, oddball, oddity, original, outsider, palm nut, pariah, peanut, peanut butter, pecan, phrenetic, pick, pine nut, pip, pistachio, pit, pluck, poll, pundit, pursuer, queer duck, queer fish, queer specimen, question, rara avis, raving lunatic, reap, reap and carry, recluse, rhapsodist, salted peanuts, sassafras nut, savant, scholar, screwball, seed, solitary, souari nut, specialist, stone, strange duck, sucker for, sweet almond, technical expert, technician, tramp, type, visionary, walnut, weirdo, zealot