nutcracker

English

Nutcracker
Clark's nutcracker (Nucifraga columbiana)
A nutcracker-style bottled cocktail

Etymology

From nut +‎ cracker.

Pronunciation

  • (General American) IPA(key): /ˈnʌtˌkɹækɚ/
  • Audio (US):(file)

Noun

nutcracker (plural nutcrackers)

  1. An implement for cracking nuts.
    1. (by extension) Ellipsis of nutcracker doll.
  2. (ornithology) Any bird of the genus Nucifraga in the crow family.
  3. (US, New York City) A bootleg mixed drink made from a blend of alcohols and fruit juices.
    • 2019 August 17, Aaron Randle, “Banned on the Beach? It’s Still Nutcracker Summer”, in The New York Times‎[1], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 22 October 2025:
      The colorful bottles have popped up every summer in black and Hispanic communities — from the bodegas of Washington Heights to the stoops of Fort Greene — since the early 1990s. On beach boardwalks, at neighborhood basketball courts and block parties, New Yorkers are drinking nutcrackers, boozy homespun cocktails made from a blend of alcohol and fruit juices.
  5. (informal) Something that is difficult to figure out; a puzzle.
    Synonym: head-scratcher
    • 1978, The Laboregister, volume 2, Michigan Department of Labor, page 177:
      I hadn't been to school for a while so the math was a real nutcracker

Derived terms

Translations

See also

Further reading

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