nutshelln.adj.

Brit.

/ˈnʌtʃɛl/, U.S.

/ˈnətˌʃɛl/

Forms: see nut n.¹ and shell n.

Origin: Formed within English, by compounding. Etymons: nut n.¹, shell n.

Etymology: < nut n.¹ + shell n. Compare early modern Dutch notschelle (Dutch noteschel , now usually noteschil ), Middle Low German notschelle , nȫteschelle . Compare earlier nutshale n.The genitive compound nuttis schell , nutts shell also occurs in Older Scots and in early modern English. In sense A. 2b originally in allusion to a copy of Homer's Iliad which was supposedly small enough to be enclosed in the shell of a nut (see Pliny Nat. Hist. 7. 85, reporting Cicero). With sense A. 4, compare earlier nut-mussel n. at nut n.¹ and adj.² Compounds 2. Names in other languages also allude to the shell's resemblance to a nut: compare French nucule (1803 in this sense: see nucule n.) and scientific Latin Nucula , genus name (Lamarck, 1799: see nuculoid adj. and n.), introduced for a species (Nucula nucleus Lamarck) which had been called Arca nucleus by Linnaeus (1758; < classical Latin nucleus nucleus n.). An unattested Old English form *hnutsciell apparently underlies the place name Nhutscelle (now Nursling, Hampshire), recorded in Willibald's Vita Bonifatii (late 8th cent.); compare later forms of the name (all with the addition of the suffix -ing): Notesselinge (1086), Hnutscilling (first half of the 12th cent.), Nuhtscilling (12th cent.), Nutselling (1189), Nutschullyng (c1230), and see further E. Ekwall Conc. Oxf. Dict. Eng. Place-Names (ed. 4, 1960) 346/1, who suggests that the name was perhaps originally a jocular appellation given to a tiny abode or settlement.

A. n.

1. The hard or woody pericarp enclosing the kernel of a nut. Cf. nutshale n. 1a.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > attention and judgement > importance > unimportance > [noun] > that which is unimportant > worthless

hawc1000

turdc1275

fille1297

dusta1300

lead1303

skitc1330

naught1340

vanityc1340

wrakea1350

rushc1350

dirt1357

fly's wing1377

goose-wing1377

fartc1390

chaff?a1400

nutshella1400

shalec1400

yardc1400

wrack1472

pelfrya1529

trasha1529

dreg1531

trish-trash1542

alchemy1547

beggary?1548

rubbish1548

pelfa1555

chip1556

stark naught1562

paltry?1566

rubbish1566

riff-raff1570

bran1574

baggage1579

nihil1579

trush-trash1582

stubblea1591

tartar1590

garbage1592

bag of winda1599

a cracked or slit groat1600

kitchen stuff1600

tilta1603

nothing?1608

bauble1609

countera1616

a pair of Yorkshire sleeves in a goldsmith's shop1620

buttermilk1630

dross1632

paltrement1641

cattle1643

bagatelle1647

nothingness1652

brimborion1653

stuff1670

flap-dragon1700

mud1706

caput mortuuma1711

snuff1778

twaddle1786

powder-post1790

traffic1828

junk1836

duffer1852

shice1859

punk1869

hogwash1870

cagmag1875

shit1890

tosh1892

tripe1895

dreck1905

schlock1906

cannon fodder1917

shite1928

skunk1929

crut1937

chickenshit1938

crud1943

Mickey Mouse1958

gick1959

garbo1978

turd1978

pants1994

the world > plants > part of plant > reproductive part(s) > fruit or reproductive product > nut > [noun] > nutshell

nutshalec1275

shellc1330

bark1377

nutshella1400

nut-housing?c1475

nut skin1648

putamen1793

a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) 23828 (MED) Þair spede es noght a nute-scell [a1400 Coll. Phys. Þam sped noht worþe a not-scel].

?a1425 tr. Guy de Chauliac Grande Chirurgie (N.Y. Acad. Med.) f. 175b/a (MED) Þe place oweþ to be defended..wiþ a litel note shelle or a grete.

c1475 (c1450) P. Idley Instr. to his Son (Cambr.) (1935) ii. B. 2328 (MED) Ye take fro the pouere that they shold by lieve, And make hym as baare as a note shelle.

a1525 (c1448) R. Holland Bk. Howlat l. 788 in W. A. Craigie Asloan MS (1925) II. 119 He couth..Mak..Nobillis of nutschellis & siluere of sand.

1562 W. Turner Herball (1568) 133 Yf nutt shelles be burnt and made lyke asshes.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Tempest (1623) i. i. 45 I'le warrant him for drowning, though the Ship were no stronger then a Nutt-shell .

1687 E. Settle Refl. Dryden's Plays 6 For who believes that one Magot waits for the Nutshel another has left.

1713 Countess of Winchilsea Misc. Poems 127 A Nutshell, wimbl'd by a Worm.

1771 T. Smollett Humphry Clinker I. 194 We embarked..in a wherry, so light and slender, that we looked like so many fairies sailing in a nut-shell.

1832 F. Marryat Newton Forster I. iii. 32 He swam nut-shells in a puddle.

1870 M. Bridgman Robert Lynne I. iv. 47 Miniature fleets of nutshells.

1909 Amer. Hist. Rev. 14 250 The story of the city which was set afire by sparrows, with nut-shells bound under their wings.

1978 P. Matthiessen Snow Leopard ii. 132 Cracked nutshells litter big flat stones along the path.

1999 S. Owen Indonesian Regional Food & Cookery (rev. ed.) Gloss. 259 The English name comes from the oil which these nuts produce... The nutshells are extremely tough.

a. As a type of something of little value. Now rare. Cf. nutshale n. 1b.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > attention and judgement > importance > unimportance > [noun] > that which is unimportant > of little importance or trivial > types of

venialc1380

nutshalea1393

nutshella1400

flea-biting1553

flea-bite1577

nothing1577

epitomea1593

quilicoma1644

ephemera1751

pinprick1853

bibelot1873

piffle1884

peanut1910

popcorn1964

trivia1968

factoid1982

a1400 [see sense A. 1].

1587 J. Carmichael Gram. Lat. Etymologia 37 Nauci, of the value of a nut-schel.

1615 H. Parrot Mastiue sig. D^v Wat will no more in Wedlocke bands be tyde, That thereof hath too much experience tryde: And durst a Noble to a nutshell wage, The next Wife makes him fall in surplusage.

1687 R. L'Estrange Answer to Let. to Dissenter 26 'Tis the World to a Nut-shell, if he be one of That Party, that he is likewise One of Those Managers.

1694 J. Collier Misc. iv. 21 Don't stake your Life against a Nutshel.

1772 R. Warner tr. Plautus Apparition v. i, in B. Thornton et al. tr. Plautus Comedies III. 267 Things to a crisis come, the timid man Is not worth e'en a nutshell.

1999 Re: The Ultimate Amiga Screwup in comp.sys.amiga.misc (Usenet newsgroup) 22 July Photoshop is great, but that doesn't mean the rest out there isn't worth a nutshell!

b. In phrases suggesting great condensation, brevity, or limitation. Cf. nutshale n. 2.Formerly frequently with direct allusion to Homer or the Iliad (see etymological note).

ΚΠ

1579 S. Gosson Schoole of Abuse Ep. Ded. sig. ☞4 The whole worlde is drawen in a mappe, Homers Iliades in a nutte shell.

1693 W. Freke Sel. Ess. i. 8 Can we reduce the schoolmen to a Nut-shell?

1704 J. Swift Tale of Tub vii. 136 I have sometimes heard of an Iliad in a Nut-shell.

1762 Philos. Trans. 1761 (Royal Soc.) 52 67 The groundwork I present would lie in a nut-shell.

1798 G. Colman Heir at Law ii. ii. 30 I've been in London before, and know it requires no teaching to be a modern fine gentleman—why it all lies in a nutshell.

1841 C. Dickens Barnaby Rudge xxix. 104 The simplest thing in the world. It lies in a nutshell.

1865 Times 29 Apr. A whole Iliad of finance in a comparative nutshell.

1870 J. H. Newman Ess. Gram. Assent ii. viii. 300 A great complex argument, which..cannot by any ingenuity..be packed into a nutshell.

1946 Liberty 1 June 6/2 I have fried down the entire idea into a nutshell.

c. As a type of something extremely small in extent, capacity, etc.

ΘΚΠ

the world > space > extension in space > measurable spatial extent > smallness > [noun] > that which is small > a small thing > typical examples of

little fingerc1300

pear1340

hair1377

flea1388

a pin's head (also point)c1450

fitch1550

mouse1584

minnow1596

the pestle of a lark1598

nutshella1616

pinhead1662

pinpoint1670

rope yarn1751

bee's knee1797

peanut1864

postage stamp1881

a1616 W. Shakespeare Hamlet (1623) ii. ii. 256 O God, I could be bounded in a nutshell, and count my selfe a King of infinite space.

a1674 T. Traherne Christian Ethicks (1675) 442 A Magnanimous Soul is alwaies awake. The whole globe of the Earth is but a Nutshell in comparison of its enjoyments.

1726 J. Swift Gulliver I. ii. viii. 160 I wondered how I could forbear, when I saw his Dishes of the Size of a silver Three-pence, a Leg of Pork hardly a Mouthful, a Cup not so big as a Nutshell.

1786 W. Cowper Let. June (1981) II. 569 As soon as breakfast is over, I retire to my nutshell of a summer house.

1822 W. Scott Fortunes of Nigel II. xii. 280 Sufficient single beer, old Pillory—and, as I take it, brewed at the rate of a nutshell of malt to a butt of Thames.

1830 B. Barton Let. 15 June in A. T. Story Life John Linnell (1892) I. xiii. 180 My own nutshell of a house is as full of prints and pictures as I can well hang it.

1861 J. A. Alexander Gospel Jesus Christ xv. 202 Seeing..the world reduced to a nutshell and our own house or village swelled into a world.

1987 ‘A. T. Ellis’ Clothes in Wardrobe 77 My mother was, I think, almost as ignorant on the subject as I was myself, having lived only in the nutshell of the English enclave.

d. in a nutshell: (used as adj. or adv.) in a few words; concisely stated, encapsulated. Also in to put in a nutshell.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > the arts > literature > style of language or writing > conciseness > [adverb] > in short

at a (also one) wordOE

at few wordsOE

shortly1303

in short wordsc1380

oncec1384

in short and plainc1386

in sum?a1425

at short wordsa1450

at short1513

briefly?1521

in a word1522

in one word1522

with a word1522

summa1535

to be short1544

in (the) fine1545

in few1550

summarily1567

in a sum1574

in shorta1577

in brief1609

briefa1616

in a little1623

tout court1747

sans phrase1808

in a nutshell1822

in nuce1854

1822 R. Heber Let. 23 Dec. in A. Heber Life R. Heber (1830) II. xxi. 104 The question lies in a nutshell.

1831 T. L. Peacock Crotchet Castle ii. 25 There, sir, is political economy in a nutshell.

1841 W. M. Thackeray Second Funeral Napoleon ii In a nutshell, you have the whole matter.

1879 R. Browning Ned Bratts in Idyls I. 210 You have my history in a nutshell.

1914 ‘I. Hay’ Lighter Side School Life viii. 207 That is the Public School Attitude in a nutshell.

1958 J. Wain Contenders iv. 72 If you want me to answer that question quite straight..I'll put it in a nutshell.

1988 A. Bennett Talking Heads 57 In a nutshell I play the kind of girl who's very much at home on a bar stool.

2001 N.Y. Times Mag. 6 May 85/3 These days, you open the paper and read about kids shooting up schools... In a nutshell, these are disconnected kids.

†3. = nut n.¹ 2. Obsolete. rare.

ΘΚΠ

the world > food and drink > drink > containers for drink > drinking vessel > [noun] > coconut

nut1307

nutshellc1530

coconut cup1682

coco cup1710

c1530 in J. Gutch Collectanea Curiosa (1781) II. 299 Item twoo Nutte Shells wheche I dyd receive amongst the Plate that came from Sent Albonnes, poiss. vij oz.

4. Usually in form nut shell. Any of various small burrowing marine bivalve molluscs belonging to the protobranch families Nuculidae and Nuculanidae, having a small rounded shell with a single row of teeth on each valve near the hinge; (also) the shell of such a mollusc. Also called nut clam.

ΚΠ

1901 E. Step Shell Life v. 54 The most plentiful of these is the Common Nut-shell (Nucula nucleus), whose empty shells may be found along our beaches washed in from deeper water.

1935 Ecol. Monogr. 5 266 (note) Nucula castrensis Hinds, camp nut shell, is local and usually on the border of the community.

1951 K. H. Barnard Beginner's Guide S. Afr. Shells 201 The Nut Shells are of very great antiquity, appearing in the Palaeozoic period.

1968 N. F. McMillan Brit. Shells 74 Nucula sulcata Bronn. the largest British nut-shell, up to 18 mm long.

1991 R. Goldring Fossils in Field vi. 100 (caption) Bivalve life attitudes: (A) Nucula (nut-shell).

B. adj. (attributive).

Resembling or reminiscent of a nutshell; (now usually) spec. condensed, concise.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > the arts > literature > style of language or writing > conciseness > [adjective]

compendious1388

briefc1430

short1487

short and sweet1545

curted1568

summarc1575

laconical1576

summary1582

succinct1585

totala1586

laconic1589

concisec1590

compendiary1609

press?1611

curt1631

Spartan1644

nutshell1647

severe1680

Lacedaemonian1780

straightforward1806

uncircumlocutory1808

shorthand1822

Spartanlike1838

unwordy1841

nutshelly1843

tight1870

Spartanic1882

unfarced1890

serried1899

taut1916

1647 H. More Philos. Poems 40 Wherefore he forward goes Now more confirm'd his Nutshell-cap contain'd What ever any living mortall knows.

1704 New Pract. Piety 38 Metaphysical Speculations of Nutshell Brains.

1780 T. Pasley Jrnl. 30 May in Private Sea Jrnls. (1931) 92 In their own opinions, great Men;—with little Nutshell hearts, say I.

1852 J. H. Newman Disc. Univ. Educ. Pref. p. xxvi Extemporizing his lucid views, leading ideas, and nutshell truths for the breakfast-table.

1872 W. Black Strange Adventures Phaeton xxiii The padded uniform may enclose a nutshell sort of heart.

1892 R. Kipling Other Verses 175 Because to force my ramparts your nutshell navies came.

1909 Westm. Gaz. 8 Sept. 5/3 You said that this put the matter in a nutshell. I distrust nutshell propositions.

1993 N.Y. Times Mag. 21 Nov. 59/2 A nutshell biography of the man behind the catalogue..might include the following facts.

This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2004; most recently modified version published online March 2022).

单词	nutshell
释义	nutshelln.adj. Brit. /ˈnʌtʃɛl/, U.S. /ˈnətˌʃɛl/ Forms: see nut n.¹ and shell n. Origin: Formed within English, by compounding. Etymons: nut n.¹, shell n. Etymology: < nut n.¹ + shell n. Compare early modern Dutch notschelle (Dutch noteschel , now usually noteschil ), Middle Low German notschelle , nȫteschelle . Compare earlier nutshale n.The genitive compound nuttis schell , nutts shell also occurs in Older Scots and in early modern English. In sense A. 2b originally in allusion to a copy of Homer's Iliad which was supposedly small enough to be enclosed in the shell of a nut (see Pliny Nat. Hist. 7. 85, reporting Cicero). With sense A. 4, compare earlier nut-mussel n. at nut n.¹ and adj.² Compounds 2. Names in other languages also allude to the shell's resemblance to a nut: compare French nucule (1803 in this sense: see nucule n.) and scientific Latin Nucula , genus name (Lamarck, 1799: see nuculoid adj. and n.), introduced for a species (Nucula nucleus Lamarck) which had been called Arca nucleus by Linnaeus (1758; < classical Latin nucleus nucleus n.). An unattested Old English form *hnutsciell apparently underlies the place name Nhutscelle (now Nursling, Hampshire), recorded in Willibald's Vita Bonifatii (late 8th cent.); compare later forms of the name (all with the addition of the suffix -ing): Notesselinge (1086), Hnutscilling (first half of the 12th cent.), Nuhtscilling (12th cent.), Nutselling (1189), Nutschullyng (c1230), and see further E. Ekwall Conc. Oxf. Dict. Eng. Place-Names (ed. 4, 1960) 346/1, who suggests that the name was perhaps originally a jocular appellation given to a tiny abode or settlement. A. n. 1. The hard or woody pericarp enclosing the kernel of a nut. Cf. nutshale n. 1a. ΘΚΠ the mind > attention and judgement > importance > unimportance > [noun] > that which is unimportant > worthless hawc1000 turdc1275 fille1297 dusta1300 lead1303 skitc1330 naught1340 vanityc1340 wrakea1350 rushc1350 dirt1357 fly's wing1377 goose-wing1377 fartc1390 chaff?a1400 nutshella1400 shalec1400 yardc1400 wrack1472 pelfrya1529 trasha1529 dreg1531 trish-trash1542 alchemy1547 beggary?1548 rubbish1548 pelfa1555 chip1556 stark naught1562 paltry?1566 rubbish1566 riff-raff1570 bran1574 baggage1579 nihil1579 trush-trash1582 stubblea1591 tartar1590 garbage1592 bag of winda1599 a cracked or slit groat1600 kitchen stuff1600 tilta1603 nothing?1608 bauble1609 countera1616 a pair of Yorkshire sleeves in a goldsmith's shop1620 buttermilk1630 dross1632 paltrement1641 cattle1643 bagatelle1647 nothingness1652 brimborion1653 stuff1670 flap-dragon1700 mud1706 caput mortuuma1711 snuff1778 twaddle1786 powder-post1790 traffic1828 junk1836 duffer1852 shice1859 punk1869 hogwash1870 cagmag1875 shit1890 tosh1892 tripe1895 dreck1905 schlock1906 cannon fodder1917 shite1928 skunk1929 crut1937 chickenshit1938 crud1943 Mickey Mouse1958 gick1959 garbo1978 turd1978 pants1994 the world > plants > part of plant > reproductive part(s) > fruit or reproductive product > nut > [noun] > nutshell nutshalec1275 shellc1330 bark1377 nutshella1400 nut-housing?c1475 nut skin1648 putamen1793 a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) 23828 (MED) Þair spede es noght a nute-scell [a1400 Coll. Phys. Þam sped noht worþe a not-scel]. ?a1425 tr. Guy de Chauliac Grande Chirurgie (N.Y. Acad. Med.) f. 175b/a (MED) Þe place oweþ to be defended..wiþ a litel note shelle or a grete. c1475 (c1450) P. Idley Instr. to his Son (Cambr.) (1935) ii. B. 2328 (MED) Ye take fro the pouere that they shold by lieve, And make hym as baare as a note shelle. a1525 (c1448) R. Holland Bk. Howlat l. 788 in W. A. Craigie Asloan MS (1925) II. 119 He couth..Mak..Nobillis of nutschellis & siluere of sand. 1562 W. Turner Herball (1568) 133 Yf nutt shelles be burnt and made lyke asshes. a1616 W. Shakespeare Tempest (1623) i. i. 45 I'le warrant him for drowning, though the Ship were no stronger then a Nutt-shell . View more context for this quotation 1687 E. Settle Refl. Dryden's Plays 6 For who believes that one Magot waits for the Nutshel another has left. 1713 Countess of Winchilsea Misc. Poems 127 A Nutshell, wimbl'd by a Worm. 1771 T. Smollett Humphry Clinker I. 194 We embarked..in a wherry, so light and slender, that we looked like so many fairies sailing in a nut-shell. 1832 F. Marryat Newton Forster I. iii. 32 He swam nut-shells in a puddle. 1870 M. Bridgman Robert Lynne I. iv. 47 Miniature fleets of nutshells. 1909 Amer. Hist. Rev. 14 250 The story of the city which was set afire by sparrows, with nut-shells bound under their wings. 1978 P. Matthiessen Snow Leopard ii. 132 Cracked nutshells litter big flat stones along the path. 1999 S. Owen Indonesian Regional Food & Cookery (rev. ed.) Gloss. 259 The English name comes from the oil which these nuts produce... The nutshells are extremely tough. 2. a. As a type of something of little value. Now rare. Cf. nutshale n. 1b. ΘΚΠ the mind > attention and judgement > importance > unimportance > [noun] > that which is unimportant > of little importance or trivial > types of venialc1380 nutshalea1393 nutshella1400 flea-biting1553 flea-bite1577 nothing1577 epitomea1593 quilicoma1644 ephemera1751 pinprick1853 bibelot1873 piffle1884 peanut1910 popcorn1964 trivia1968 factoid1982 a1400 [see sense A. 1]. 1587 J. Carmichael Gram. Lat. Etymologia 37 Nauci, of the value of a nut-schel. 1615 H. Parrot Mastiue sig. D^v Wat will no more in Wedlocke bands be tyde, That thereof hath too much experience tryde: And durst a Noble to a nutshell wage, The next Wife makes him fall in surplusage. 1687 R. L'Estrange Answer to Let. to Dissenter 26 'Tis the World to a Nut-shell, if he be one of That Party, that he is likewise One of Those Managers. 1694 J. Collier Misc. iv. 21 Don't stake your Life against a Nutshel. 1772 R. Warner tr. Plautus Apparition v. i, in B. Thornton et al. tr. Plautus Comedies III. 267 Things to a crisis come, the timid man Is not worth e'en a nutshell. 1999 Re: The Ultimate Amiga Screwup in comp.sys.amiga.misc (Usenet newsgroup) 22 July Photoshop is great, but that doesn't mean the rest out there isn't worth a nutshell! b. In phrases suggesting great condensation, brevity, or limitation. Cf. nutshale n. 2.Formerly frequently with direct allusion to Homer or the Iliad (see etymological note). ΚΠ 1579 S. Gosson Schoole of Abuse Ep. Ded. sig. ☞4 The whole worlde is drawen in a mappe, Homers Iliades in a nutte shell. 1693 W. Freke Sel. Ess. i. 8 Can we reduce the schoolmen to a Nut-shell? 1704 J. Swift Tale of Tub vii. 136 I have sometimes heard of an Iliad in a Nut-shell. 1762 Philos. Trans. 1761 (Royal Soc.) 52 67 The groundwork I present would lie in a nut-shell. 1798 G. Colman Heir at Law ii. ii. 30 I've been in London before, and know it requires no teaching to be a modern fine gentleman—why it all lies in a nutshell. 1841 C. Dickens Barnaby Rudge xxix. 104 The simplest thing in the world. It lies in a nutshell. 1865 Times 29 Apr. A whole Iliad of finance in a comparative nutshell. 1870 J. H. Newman Ess. Gram. Assent ii. viii. 300 A great complex argument, which..cannot by any ingenuity..be packed into a nutshell. 1946 Liberty 1 June 6/2 I have fried down the entire idea into a nutshell. c. As a type of something extremely small in extent, capacity, etc. ΘΚΠ the world > space > extension in space > measurable spatial extent > smallness > [noun] > that which is small > a small thing > typical examples of little fingerc1300 pear1340 hair1377 flea1388 a pin's head (also point)c1450 fitch1550 mouse1584 minnow1596 the pestle of a lark1598 nutshella1616 pinhead1662 pinpoint1670 rope yarn1751 bee's knee1797 peanut1864 postage stamp1881 a1616 W. Shakespeare Hamlet (1623) ii. ii. 256 O God, I could be bounded in a nutshell, and count my selfe a King of infinite space. a1674 T. Traherne Christian Ethicks (1675) 442 A Magnanimous Soul is alwaies awake. The whole globe of the Earth is but a Nutshell in comparison of its enjoyments. 1726 J. Swift Gulliver I. ii. viii. 160 I wondered how I could forbear, when I saw his Dishes of the Size of a silver Three-pence, a Leg of Pork hardly a Mouthful, a Cup not so big as a Nutshell. 1786 W. Cowper Let. June (1981) II. 569 As soon as breakfast is over, I retire to my nutshell of a summer house. 1822 W. Scott Fortunes of Nigel II. xii. 280 Sufficient single beer, old Pillory—and, as I take it, brewed at the rate of a nutshell of malt to a butt of Thames. 1830 B. Barton Let. 15 June in A. T. Story Life John Linnell (1892) I. xiii. 180 My own nutshell of a house is as full of prints and pictures as I can well hang it. 1861 J. A. Alexander Gospel Jesus Christ xv. 202 Seeing..the world reduced to a nutshell and our own house or village swelled into a world. 1987 ‘A. T. Ellis’ Clothes in Wardrobe 77 My mother was, I think, almost as ignorant on the subject as I was myself, having lived only in the nutshell of the English enclave. d. in a nutshell: (used as adj. or adv.) in a few words; concisely stated, encapsulated. Also in to put in a nutshell. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > the arts > literature > style of language or writing > conciseness > [adverb] > in short at a (also one) wordOE at few wordsOE shortly1303 in short wordsc1380 oncec1384 in short and plainc1386 in sum?a1425 at short wordsa1450 at short1513 briefly?1521 in a word1522 in one word1522 with a word1522 summa1535 to be short1544 in (the) fine1545 in few1550 summarily1567 in a sum1574 in shorta1577 in brief1609 briefa1616 in a little1623 tout court1747 sans phrase1808 in a nutshell1822 in nuce1854 1822 R. Heber Let. 23 Dec. in A. Heber Life R. Heber (1830) II. xxi. 104 The question lies in a nutshell. 1831 T. L. Peacock Crotchet Castle ii. 25 There, sir, is political economy in a nutshell. 1841 W. M. Thackeray Second Funeral Napoleon ii In a nutshell, you have the whole matter. 1879 R. Browning Ned Bratts in Idyls I. 210 You have my history in a nutshell. 1914 ‘I. Hay’ Lighter Side School Life viii. 207 That is the Public School Attitude in a nutshell. 1958 J. Wain Contenders iv. 72 If you want me to answer that question quite straight..I'll put it in a nutshell. 1988 A. Bennett Talking Heads 57 In a nutshell I play the kind of girl who's very much at home on a bar stool. 2001 N.Y. Times Mag. 6 May 85/3 These days, you open the paper and read about kids shooting up schools... In a nutshell, these are disconnected kids. †3. = nut n.¹ 2. Obsolete. rare. ΘΚΠ the world > food and drink > drink > containers for drink > drinking vessel > [noun] > coconut nut1307 nutshellc1530 coconut cup1682 coco cup1710 c1530 in J. Gutch Collectanea Curiosa (1781) II. 299 Item twoo Nutte Shells wheche I dyd receive amongst the Plate that came from Sent Albonnes, poiss. vij oz. 4. Usually in form nut shell. Any of various small burrowing marine bivalve molluscs belonging to the protobranch families Nuculidae and Nuculanidae, having a small rounded shell with a single row of teeth on each valve near the hinge; (also) the shell of such a mollusc. Also called nut clam. ΚΠ 1901 E. Step Shell Life v. 54 The most plentiful of these is the Common Nut-shell (Nucula nucleus), whose empty shells may be found along our beaches washed in from deeper water. 1935 Ecol. Monogr. 5 266 (note) Nucula castrensis Hinds, camp nut shell, is local and usually on the border of the community. 1951 K. H. Barnard Beginner's Guide S. Afr. Shells 201 The Nut Shells are of very great antiquity, appearing in the Palaeozoic period. 1968 N. F. McMillan Brit. Shells 74 Nucula sulcata Bronn. the largest British nut-shell, up to 18 mm long. 1991 R. Goldring Fossils in Field vi. 100 (caption) Bivalve life attitudes: (A) Nucula (nut-shell). B. adj. (attributive). Resembling or reminiscent of a nutshell; (now usually) spec. condensed, concise. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > the arts > literature > style of language or writing > conciseness > [adjective] compendious1388 briefc1430 short1487 short and sweet1545 curted1568 summarc1575 laconical1576 summary1582 succinct1585 totala1586 laconic1589 concisec1590 compendiary1609 press?1611 curt1631 Spartan1644 nutshell1647 severe1680 Lacedaemonian1780 straightforward1806 uncircumlocutory1808 shorthand1822 Spartanlike1838 unwordy1841 nutshelly1843 tight1870 Spartanic1882 unfarced1890 serried1899 taut1916 1647 H. More Philos. Poems 40 Wherefore he forward goes Now more confirm'd his Nutshell-cap contain'd What ever any living mortall knows. 1704 New Pract. Piety 38 Metaphysical Speculations of Nutshell Brains. 1780 T. Pasley Jrnl. 30 May in Private Sea Jrnls. (1931) 92 In their own opinions, great Men;—with little Nutshell hearts, say I. 1852 J. H. Newman Disc. Univ. Educ. Pref. p. xxvi Extemporizing his lucid views, leading ideas, and nutshell truths for the breakfast-table. 1872 W. Black Strange Adventures Phaeton xxiii The padded uniform may enclose a nutshell sort of heart. 1892 R. Kipling Other Verses 175 Because to force my ramparts your nutshell navies came. 1909 Westm. Gaz. 8 Sept. 5/3 You said that this put the matter in a nutshell. I distrust nutshell propositions. 1993 N.Y. Times Mag. 21 Nov. 59/2 A nutshell biography of the man behind the catalogue..might include the following facts. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2004; most recently modified version published online March 2022). nutshellv. Brit. /ˈnʌtʃɛl/, U.S. /ˈnətˌʃɛl/ Origin: Formed within English, by conversion. Etymon: nutshell n. Etymology: < nutshell n. (compare sense 2d s.v.). transitive. To sum up in a few words; to state concisely. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > the arts > literature > style of language or writing > conciseness > put concisely or briefly [verb (transitive)] brevyc1503 stenography1652 to spell‥short1857 nutshell1883 tabloid1909 1883 ‘M. Twain’ Life on Mississippi lviii. 570 The clerk nut-shelled the contrast between the former time and the present. 1900 Speaker 14 Apr. 45/1 He thus nutshells the tragic fate of the Stuarts. 1959 Rubber Jrnl. & Internat. Plastics 28 Mar. 476/1 That's nutshelling it for you. 1986 Stage 11 Dec. 10/1 The programme notes nutshelled the newcomer's biography in five lines. Derivatives ˈnutshelling n. ΚΠ 1930 Mind 39 129 The participants..were cut down to eight minutes, which was a severe restriction upon wordiness and favoured nutshelling. 1997 Texas Law Rev. 76 225 Derrida and Caputo..warn their respective audiences of the dangers of nutshelling. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2004; most recently modified version published online March 2022). < n.adj.a1400v.1883
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nutshelln.adj.

nutshellv.

Derivatives