in a nutshell

[nuht-shel]

nut·shell

[nuht-shel]
noun
1.
the shell of a nut.
2.
in a nutshell, in very brief form; in a few words: Just tell me the story in a nutshell.

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In a nutshell is always a great word to know.
So is bezoar. Does it mean:
a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question.
a calculus or concretion found in the stomach or intestines of certain animals, esp. ruminants, formerly reputed to be an effective remedy for poison.

Origin:
1175–1225; Middle English nutescell; see nut, shell
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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American Heritage
Idioms & Phrases

in a nutshell

Concisely, in a few words, as in Here's our proposalin a nutshell, we want to sell the business to you. This hyperbolic expression alludes to the Roman writer Pliny's description of Homer's Iliad being copied in so tiny a hand that it could fit in a nutshell. For a time it referred to anything compressed, but from the 1500s on it referred mainly to written or spoken words.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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