nutshell
/ˈnʌt.ʃɛl/
nutshell noun: the shell that surrounds the kernel of a nut.
Noun
nutshell (plural nutshells)
- The shell that surrounds the kernel of a nut.
- For men be now tratlers and tellers of tales;
What tidings at Totnam, what newis in Wales,
What ſhippis are ſailing to Scalis Malis?
And all is not worth a couple of nut ſhalis.c. 1515–1516, published 1568, John Skelton, Againſt venemous tongues enpoyſoned with ſclaunder and falſe detractions &c.
- For men be now tratlers and tellers of tales;
- A short book summarizing an area of law.
- A small boat; a boat considered small in comparison to the seas.
- [A]t last the fishing-line stood straight out behind, and the stone weights jumped along the tops of the billows, while the seas - notwithstanding the guiding hand of the pilot sought to avoid them - broke over our little nutshell, and sent the spray high above mast and sail.1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 182
Verb
nutshell (third-person singular simple present nutshells, present participle nutshelling, simple past and past participle nutshelled)
- To summarize (from the term in a nutshell).
nutshell meaning in Tamil, Bengali, Telugu and Kannada
nutshell in Tamil
- கொட்டை ஓடு, மணிச் சுருக்கம், மணிச்சுருக்கம்
nutshell in Bengali
- nutshell
- বাদামের খোলা badamer khōla
nutshell in Telugu
- nutshell
- బుర్ర burra
nutshell in Kannada
- ಗೆರಟೆ, ಒಟ್ಟು, ಚುಟುಕಾಗಿ
More languagesFewer languages
- nutshell in Indonesian
- kulit kacang
Examples of nutshell in a sentence
- He had a lot to say, but his answer, in a nutshell, was no.
- These cookies seem to have grit from nutshells in them.
- In a nutshell, duckpower is rated using something called Kleiber’s law according to the Art of Engineering.
Forms of nutshell
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | nutshells |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | nutshells |
| present participle | nutshelling |
| past participle | nutshelled |
| past | nutshelled |
Origin of nutshell
From Middle English notschelle, from Old English hnutsċiell, from Proto-West Germanic *hnutskallju, equivalent to nut + shell. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Nuteskele, Nuteskil (“nutshell”), Dutch notenschaal (“nutshell”), German Nussschale (“nutshell”).
Words formed from nutshell
Questions about nutshell
- What does nutshell mean?
- Nutshell means the shell that surrounds the kernel of a nut.
- What is nutshell in Tamil?
- Nutshell in Tamil is கொட்டை ஓடு, மணிச் சுருக்கம், மணிச்சுருக்கம். See Nutshell meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is nutshell?
- Nutshell can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce nutshell?
- Nutshell is pronounced /ˈnʌt.ʃɛl/.
- What is the plural of nutshell?
- The plural of nutshell is nutshells.
Words near nutshell in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: nutshell (page history and authors); nutshell (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); বাদামের খোলা (Bengali) (page history and authors); బుర్ర (Telugu) (page history and authors); nutshell (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vininn126-nutshell.wav.
Cite this entry: “nutshell.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/nutshell. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.