- published: 06 Dec 2008
- views: 8125528
A nutshell is the outer shell of a nut. Most nutshells are inedible and are removed before eating the nut meat inside.
Most nutshells are useful to some extent, depending on the circumstances. Walnut shells can be used for cleaning and polishing, as a filler in dynamite, and as a paint thickening agent. Shells from pecans, almonds, Brazil nuts, acorns, and most other nuts are useful in composting.
Shells can also be used as loose-fill packing material, to protect fragile items in shipping.
The expression "in a nutshell" (of a story, proof, etc.) means "in essence", metaphorically alluding to the fact that the essence of the nut - its edible part - is contained inside its shell. The expression further gave rise to the journalism term nut graph, short for nutshell paragraph.
A likely source of the phrase may be found in Shakespeare's Hamlet (Act 2, Scene 2) where the title character exclaims: "O God, I could be bounded in a nutshell, and count my selfe a King of infinite space".
We chase misprinted lies, we face the path of time
And yet I fight and yet I fight this battle all alone
No one to cry to, no place to call home
My gift of self is raped, my privacy is raked
And yet I find, yet I find repeating in my head