So from the midmost the nutation spreads, Round and more round,
o'er all the sea of heads.
Pope.
2. (Astron.) A very small libratory motion of the earth's axis, by
which its inclination to the plane of the ecliptic is constantly
varying by a small amount.
3. (Bot.) (a) The motion of a flower in following the apparent movement
of the sun, from the east in the morning to the west in the evening.
(b) Circumnutation.
Nut"break`er (?), n. (Zoöl.) (a) The European nuthatch. (b) The
nutcracker.
Nut"-brown` (?), a. Brown as a nut long kept and dried. "The spicy
nutbrown ale." Milton.
Nut"crack`er (?), n. 1. An instrument for cracking nuts.
2. (Zoöl.) (a) A European bird (Nucifraga caryocatactes), allied to the
magpie and crow. Its color is dark brown, spotted with white. It feeds
on nuts, seeds, and insects. (b) The American, or Clarke's, nutcracker
(Picicorvus Columbianus) of Western North America.
Nut"gall` (?), n. A more or less round gall resembling a nut, esp. one
of those produced on the oak and used in the arts. See Gall, Gallnut.
Nut"hatch` (?), n. [OE. nuthake. See 2d Hack.] (Zoöl.) Any one of
several species of birds of the genus Sitta, as the European species
(Sitta Europæa). The white-breasted nuthatch (S. Carolinensis), the
red-breasted nuthatch (S. Canadensis), the pygmy nuthatch (S. pygmæa),
and others, are American.
Nut"hook` (?), n. 1. A hook at the end of a pole to pull down boughs
for gathering the nuts.
2. A thief who steals by means of a hook; also, a bailiff who hooks or
seizes malefactors. Shak.