Nut n.
 1. Bot. The fruit of certain trees and shrubs (as of the almond, walnut, hickory, beech, filbert, etc.), consisting of a hard and indehiscent shell inclosing a kernel.
 2. A perforated block (usually a small piece of metal), provided with an internal or female screw thread, used on a bolt, or screw, for tightening or holding something, or for transmitting motion. See Illust. of 1st Bolt.
 3. The tumbler of a gunlock.
 4. Naut. A projection on each side of the shank of an anchor, to secure the stock in place.
 Check nut, Jam nut, Lock nut, a nut which is screwed up tightly against another nut on the same bolt or screw, in order to prevent accidental unscrewing of the first nut.
 Nut buoy. See under Buoy.
 Nut coal, screened coal of a size smaller than stove coal and larger than pea coal; -- called also chestnut coal.
 Nut crab Zool., any leucosoid crab of the genus Ebalia as, Ebalia tuberosa of Europe.
 Nut grass Bot., See nut grass in the vocabulary.
 Nut lock, a device, as a metal plate bent up at the corners, to prevent a nut from becoming unscrewed, as by jarring.
 Nut pine. Bot. See under Pine.
 Nut rush Bot., a genus of cyperaceous plants (Scleria) having a hard bony achene.  Several species are found in the United States and many more in tropical regions.
 Nut tree, a tree that bears nuts.
 Nut weevil Zool., any species of weevils of the genus Balaninus and other allied genera, which in the larval state live in nuts.


 Rush n.
 1. Bot. A name given to many aquatic or marsh-growing endogenous plants with soft, slender stems, as the species of Juncus and Scirpus.
 Note: ☞ Some species are used in bottoming chairs and plaiting mats, and the pith is used in some places for wicks to lamps and rushlights.
 2. The merest trifle; a straw.
    John Bull's friendship is not worth a rush.   --Arbuthnot.
 Bog rush. See under Bog.
 Club rush, any rush of the genus Scirpus.
 Flowering rush. See under Flowering.
 Nut rush (a) Any plant of the genus Scleria, rushlike plants with hard nutlike fruits. (b) A name for several species of Cyperus having tuberous roots.
 Rush broom, an Australian leguminous plant (Viminaria denudata), having long, slender branches. Also, the Spanish broom. See under Spanish.
 Rush candle, See under Candle.
 Rush grass, any grass of the genus Vilfa, grasses with wiry stems and one-flowered spikelets.
 Rush toad Zool., the natterjack.
 Scouring rush. Bot. Same as Dutch rush, under Dutch.
 Spike rush, any rushlike plant of the genus Eleocharis, in which the flowers grow in dense spikes.
 Sweet rush, a sweet-scented grass of Arabia, etc. (Andropogon schoenanthus), used in Oriental medical practice.
 Wood rush, any plant of the genus Luzula, which differs in some technical characters from Juncus.