nutcracker
nounUS /ˈnʌtˌkɹækɚ/
Etymology From nut + cracker.
1
An implement for cracking nuts.
2
Abbreviation, Broadly, Ellipsis Ellipsis of nutcracker doll.
3
Biology, Natural sciences, Ornithology Any bird of the genus Nucifraga in the crow family.
4
New York City, US A bootleg mixed drink made from a blend of alcohols and fruit juices.
- 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.2019 August 17, Aaron Randle, “Banned on the Beach? It’s Still Nutcracker Summer”, in New York Times:
5
Informal Something that is difficult to figure out; a puzzle.
- I hadn't been to school for a while so the math was a real nutcracker1978, The Laboregister, volume 2, Michigan Department of Labor, page 177:
- Derived terms
- Christmas nutcracker, Clark's nutcracker, spotted nutcracker, Eurasian nutcracker, nutcracker doll, nutcracker phenomenon, nutcracker syndrome, son of a nutcracker
- Related terms
- crack open, nutpick