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nutcracker

US/ˈnʌtˌkɹækɚ/
nounB1+Occasional — familiar, but not everyday · #9,543 of 15,258neutral

Other forms: nutcrackers

A nutcracker is a hinged tool that squeezes a hard shell until it splits. A pair of nutcrackers, use the nutcracker, a brass nutcracker.

It is a lever with the nut close to the hinge, which is where the force is greatest — the same principle as a pair of pliers. Decorative soldier-shaped nutcrackers from Germany gave Tchaikovsky's ballet its name and its story. Note that the nutcracker is also a bird, a crow relative that hides thousands of seeds and remembers where.

Definitions of nutcracker

  1. 1nounnutcrackerA hinged tool that cracks nut shells.B1+

    “Grandpa used a nutcracker to open the walnuts at Christmas.”

    • Said"Pass me the nutcracker; my jaw is not what it was."
    • WrittenThe nutcrackers came out once a year, with the bowl of walnuts, and went back into the drawer.
    • UsedSqueeze the nutcracker gently until the case gives, then stop.
    • ContrastA nutcracker, not a hammer. A hammer smashes the nut with the shell; a nutcracker opens the shell and leaves the nut. hammer →
    • Not thisYour back teeth are not a nutcracker, whatever your grandfather did. This tool has hinges.
    • SimplyUse the nutcracker. Then eat what you find.

    Patterncrack sth with a nutcracker · a pair of nutcrackers · nutcracker handles

nutcracker is a hand tool.

Remember it

NUT-CRACKer → it CRACKs the NUT

It cracks nuts: squeeze the handles and the shell breaks with a loud snap.

hooks ontonutcrack

Where it comes from

Nut plus cracker, a plain compound. The tool is named for what it does, and the bird for the same reason.

From nut + cracker.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in In the Kitchen

Practise this word

nutcracker in the wild

  • A nutcracker is a tool designed to open nuts by cracking their shells.

    Nutcracker

  • A decorative version, a nutcracker doll, portrays a person whose mouth forms the jaws of the nutcracker.

    Nutcracker

  • The nutcrackers (Nucifraga) are a genus of four species of passerine bird, in the family Corvidae, related to the jays and crows.

    Nutcracker (bird)

  • The northern nutcracker is one of four species of nutcracker currently accepted.

    Northern nutcracker

  • The species complex was known by the English name "spotted nutcracker".

    Northern nutcracker

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.