in a nutshell

2 definitions found

in a nutshell - Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 :

  Nutshell \Nut"shell`\, n.
     1. The shell or hard external covering in which the kernel of
        a nut is inclosed.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. Hence, a thing of little compass, or of little value.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. (Zool.) A shell of the genus Nucula.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     in a nutshell in a summarized and very abbreviated form; --
        of statments, descriptions, reports, and other
        communications; as, to describe the convention in a
        nutshell.
  
     To be in a nutshell or To lie in a nutshell,, to be
        within a small compass; to admit of very brief or simple
        determination or statement. "The remedy lay in a
        nutshell." --Macaulay.
        [1913 Webster +PJC]

in a nutshell - WordNet (r) 2.1 (2005) :

  in a nutshell
      adv 1: summed up briefly; "gave the facts in a nutshell"; "just
             tell me the story in a nutshell"; "explained the
             situation in a nutshell"