nutcracker

UK: /ˈnʌtkrækə^rz/

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025

nut•crack•er /ˈnʌtˌkrækɚ/   n. [countable]

1. Food an instrument for cracking the shells of nuts.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

nut•crack•er  (nut′krak′ər), n. 

1. Food an instrument or device for cracking the shells of nuts.
2. Birds any of several corvine birds of the genus Nucifraga that feed on nuts, as the common nutcracker, N. caryocatactes, of Europe and Clark's nutcracker, N. columbiana, of the western U.S.

• nut + cracker 1540–50

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

nutcracker / ˈnʌtˌkrækə/ noun

1. (often plural) a device for cracking the shells of nuts
2. either of two birds, Nucifraga caryocatactes of the Old World or N. columbianus (Clark's nutcracker) of North America, having speckled plumage and feeding on nuts, seeds, etc: family Corvidae (crows)