🛠️ A tool for nuts 🐦 A bird

nutcracker

23 2.9

A tool with two handles joined at one end that cracks hard nut shells

noun
/ˈnʌtˌkrækər/

: cascanueces

To open the hazelnuts, she used a nutcracker to break their shells.
Nutcracker ballet
Nutcracker Suite
Nutcracker performance

Examples

She used a pair of nutcrackers.

Evil Under the Sun (1982)
So, this is our selection of nutcrackers.

Last Christmas (2019)
This is a big nutcracker.

Last Christmas (2019)
This device is called a nutcracker.

The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)
I danced in the Joffrey Ballet's Nutcracker as a kid.

Blog text (11)
The chef had a special nutcracker for preparing walnuts for the dessert.
After collecting a variety of nuts, he reached for the nutcracker to enjoy his snack.

Synonyms

shellcracker

vsnutcracker

7.4

A small tool used to open hard nut shells

specifies a device of two hinged levers for cracking shells

Compounds

Clark's nutcracker

8.9

A grey and black mountain bird like a crow that eats and keeps pine seeds

common nutcracker

8.9

A large dark brown bird like a crow that eats seeds from pine cones

How Strong

shellcracker

7.4

nutcracker

23 2.9

nutpick

6.8

Surface Forms

nutcracker singular

nutcrackers plural

Morphology

nutcracker = nut + cracker (transparent) = nut + cracker

Literal compound 'nut' + 'cracker' meaning a device that cracks nuts; the meaning follows directly from its parts.

Etymology

Nutcracker is a simple compound of nut and cracker, where cracker comes from 'crack' meaning 'to break'. So a nutcracker is a tool that 'breaks' open hard nut shells.