nutshell

English

Etymology

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”).

The verb, as well as the legal book sense, is in reference to the phrase in a nutshell (“summarized”).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈnʌt.ʃɛl/
  • Audio (US):(file)

Noun

nutshell (plural nutshells)

  1. The shell that surrounds the kernel of a nut.
    • 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;
      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.
  2. A short book summarizing an area of law.
  3. (nautical) A small boat; a boat considered small in comparison to the seas.
    • 1886, Peter Christen Asbj&oslash￵rnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 182:
      [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.

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

nutshell (third-person singular simple present nutshells, present participle nutshelling, simple past and past participle nutshelled)

  1. (transitive) To summarize.
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