nuts

• IPA^(key): /nʌts/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌts

nuts

1. plural of nut
2. (poker) An unbeatable hand; the best poker hand available.

   If the board is 237QA, all of spades, the nuts is 45 of spades.

   If the board is 4444J, the nuts is any hand with an ace.

nuts (comparative more nuts, superlative most nuts)

1. (colloquial) Insane, mad.

   After living on the island alone for five years, he eventually went nuts.

2. (colloquial, figuratively) Crazy, mad; unusually pleased or, alternatively, angered.

   I just go nuts over her fantastic desserts.

   The referee made a bad call against the home team and the crowd went nuts.

3. (colloquial) Very fond of (on) someone.

   He's been nuts on her since the day they met.

• nutty
• See also Thesaurus:insane

nuts

1. Indicates annoyance, anger, or disappointment.

   Nuts! They didn't even listen to what I had to say.

2. Signifies rejection of a proposal or idea, as in forget it, no way, or nothing doing; often followed by to.

   They want me to pay $5 for a banana? Nuts to that!

   • 2018 March 19, Dan Shive, “Comic for Monday, Mar 19, 2018”, in El Goonish Shive‎, archived from the original on 7 May 2022:

     Early plans for this storyline didn't have Ellen get to fight back against Sirleck. She was just a host for Sirleck, and didn't have any agency to speak of.

     Later on, I decided "nuts to that".

     Granted, Ellen's not literally holding Sirleck back like that. Technically, the real Sirleck doesn't even have arms. This is a visual comic, however, so darn it, let's get metaphorical about it.

   • 2022 April 19, Lauren Aratani, “US supreme court rules against air force officer who refused Covid vaccine”, in The Guardian, Guardian Media Group, retrieved 2022-04-19:

     Upon denial of his exemption request, Dunn sent to a major general “a one-word memorandum that simply read: ‘NUTS!’”.

     Prelogar noted that while Dunn maintains he meant no disrespect, “NUTS!” has a “well-known ‘military historical connotation’”.

     She cited the case of Anthony McAuliffe, a key US military officer in the second world war who responded to a German message requesting American surrender with the one-worded answer. The American officer who delivered McAuliffe’s message to German officers clarified that, “If you don’t understand what ‘nuts’ means, in plain English, it is the same as ‘Go to hell.’”

• The association with testicles (See noun above.) adds an intensifying effect to the anger or rejection.
• Use of "Nuts" rather than another form of "No" is often intentionally insulting. (e.g. Gen. Anthony McAuliffe's response to a German request for surrender during the Battle of the Bulge)

nuts

1. third-person singular simple present indicative of nut

• dead-nuts (possibly etymologically related, but Wiktionary isn't sure about the etymology of the term)

• Unst, stun, tsun, tuns