nutshell

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   The hard outer covering around the seed of a nut.

   He cracked the nutshell and ate the kernel inside.

2. 2
   verb

   To explain something briefly, giving only the main points.

   Let me nutshell the plan for you in a few words.

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”).

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