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nuts

 [nuhts]   Origin

nuts

   [nuhts] Slang.
interjection
1.
Also, nerts, nertz. (used to express disgust, defiance, disapproval, despair).
adjective
2.
insane; crazy.

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Nuts is always a great word to know.
So is spaz. Does it mean:
a grotesquely awkward person; an eccentric person
an old person
LEARN MORE UNUSUAL WORDS WITH WORD DYNAMO...
Idiom
3.
be nuts about,
a.
to be extremely or excessively enthusiastic about; be fervent in one's admiration of: Both of them are nuts about chamber music.
b.
to be deeply in love with: He's nuts about his new girlfriend.
Origin:
1900–05; plural of nut
Dictionary.com Unabridged

nut

   [nuht] noun, verb, nut·ted, nut·ting.
noun
1.
a dry fruit consisting of an edible kernel or meat enclosed in a woody or leathery shell.
2.
the kernel itself.
3.
Botany. a hard, indehiscent, one-seeded fruit, as the chestnut or the acorn.
4.
any of various devices or ornaments resembling a nut.
5.
a block, usually of metal and generally square or hexagonal, perforated with a threaded hole so that it can be screwed down on a bolt to hold together objects through which the bolt passes.
EXPAND
6.
Slang. the head.
7.
Slang.
a.
a person who is very enthusiastic about something; buff; enthusiast; devotee: He's a real circus nut.
b.
an extremely concerned or zealous person: My boss is a nut on double-checking everything.
8.
Slang.
a.
a foolish, silly, or eccentric person.
b.
Offensive. an insane person; psychotic.
9.
Slang: Vulgar. a testis.
10.
Informal.
a.
the operating expenses, usually figured weekly, of a theatrical production or other commercial enterprise; a break-even point.
b.
the total cost of producing a theatrical production or of forming and opening any new business venture.
11.
Music. (in instruments of the violin family)
a.
the ledge, as of ebony, at the upper end of the fingerboard, over which the strings pass.
b.
the movable piece at the lower end of the bow, by means of which the hairs may be slackened or tightened.
12.
Printing. en (def. 2).
COLLAPSE
verb (used without object)
13.
to seek for or gather nuts: to go nutting in late autumn.
Idioms
14.
from soup to nuts. soup (def. 7).
15.
hard nut to crack,
a.
a problem difficult to solve; a formidable undertaking.
b.
a person difficult to know, understand, or convince.
Also, tough nut to crack.
16.
off one's nut, Slang.
a.
Sometimes Offensive. foolish, silly, or insane.
b.
confused; unreasonable.
c.
mistaken or wrong: You're off your nut if you think such a plan can succeed.
Origin:
before 900; 1900–05 for def. 8b; Middle English nute, Old English hnutu; cognate with Dutch noot, German Nuss, Old Norse hnot; akin to Latin nux

Related forms
nut·like, adjective

Nut

   [noot]
noun Egyptian Religion.
the goddess of the sky, sometimes shown as a cow bearing Ra on her back and the stars on her underside.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
Cite This Source Link To Nuts
Collins
World English Dictionary
nuts (nʌts)
 
—adj (foll by about or on)
1.  a slang word for insane
2.  slang extremely fond (of) or enthusiastic (about)
 
—interj
3.  slang an expression of disappointment, contempt, refusal, or defiance
 
—pl n
4.  See testicle a slang word for testicles

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source
Etymonline
Word Origin & History

nut
"hard seed," O.E. hnutu, from P.Gmc. *khnut- (cf. O.N. hnot, Du. noot, O.H.G. hnuz, Ger. nuß "nut"), from PIE *knu- "lump" (cf. L. nux, see nucleus). Sense of "testicle" is attested from 1915. Nuts as a derisive retort is attested from 1931. The nut that goes onto
EXPAND
a bolt is first recorded 1611 (used of other small mechanical pieces since 1426). Amer.Eng. slang sense of "amount of money required for something" is first recorded 1912. Nuts and bolts "fundamentals" is from 1960.

nuts
"crazy," 1846, from earlier be nutts upon "be very fond of" (1785), which is possibly from nuts (n., pl.) "any source of pleasure" (1617), from nut (q.v.). Sense influenced probably by metaphoric application of nut to "head" (1846, e.g. to be off one's nut "be insane," 1860). Nut "crazy person, crank"
is attested from 1903, (British form nutter first attested 1958). Connection with the slang "testicle" sense has tended to nudge it toward taboo. "On the N.B.C. network, it is forbidden to call any character a nut; you have to call him a screwball." ["New Yorker," Dec. 23, 1950] "Please eliminate the expression 'nuts to you' from Egbert's speech." [Request from the Hays Office regarding the script of "The Bank Dick," 1940] This desire for avoidance accounts for the euphemism nerts (c.1925). Nutty "crazy" is first attested 1898.
COLLAPSE
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Cite This Source
American Heritage
Science Dictionary
nut   (nŭt)  Pronunciation Key 
A dry, indehiscent simple fruit consisting of one seed surrounded by a hard and thick pericarp (fruit wall). The seed does not adhere to the pericarp but is connected to it by the funiculus. A nut is similar to an achene but larger. Acorns, beechnuts, chestnuts, and hazelnuts are true nuts. Informally, other edible seeds or dry fruits enclosed in a hard or leathery shell are also called nuts, though they are not true nuts. For instance, an almond kernel is actually the seed of a drupe. Its familiar whitish shell is an endocarp found within the greenish fruit of the almond tree. Peanuts are actually individual seeds from a seed pod called a legume.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2002. Published by Houghton Mifflin. All rights reserved.
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Slang Dictionary

nut definition


  1. n.
    an odd or strange person; a crazy person. : Some nut is going to try to fly from the top of one building to another.
  2. n.
    [one's] head. : The baseball came in fast. Clonk! Right on the nut!
  3. n.
    an enthusiast (about something). : Paul is a nut about chocolate cake.
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
Cite This Source

nuts definition


and nutz
  1. mod.
    crazy. (There is no difference in pronunciation between nuts and nutz.) : That whole idea is just nuts!
  2. exclam.
    No!; I don't believe you!; I don't care! (Usually Nuts!) : Oh, nuts! I forgot my wallet.
  3. n.
    the testicles. (Usually objectionable.) : Chuck got kneed in the nuts in a football game.
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
Cite This Source
Easton
Bible Dictionary

Nuts definition


were among the presents Jacob sent into Egypt for the purpose of conciliating Joseph (Gen. 43:11). This was the fruit of the pistachio tree, which resembles the sumac. It is of the size of an olive. In Cant. 6:11 a different Hebrew word ('egoz), which means "walnuts," is used.

Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
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