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Noun: nutcracker  'nút,kra-ku(r)
  1. A compound lever used to crack nuts open
    "She reached for the nutcracker to open the stubborn walnut"
     
  2. Any of various small short-tailed songbirds with strong feet and a sharp beak that feed on small nuts and insects
    "The nutcracker climbed headfirst down the tree trunk, searching for insects";
    - nuthatch
     
  3. Speckled birds that feed on nuts
    "We watched a nutcracker skilfully crack open pine cones to extract the seeds"

Derived forms: nutcrackers

Type of: compound lever, corvine bird, oscine, oscine bird

Part of: family Sittidae, genus Nucifraga, Nucifraga, Sittidae

Encyclopedia: Nutcracker