to lie in a nutshell

1 definition found

to lie 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.
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     2. Hence, a thing of little compass, or of little value.
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     3. (Zool.) A shell of the genus Nucula.
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     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]