wing nut

wing nut

See also: wingnut and wing-nut

English

Wingnuts: nuts with wing-like projections.

Alternative forms

• wing-nut, wingnut

Etymology

wing +‎ nut

Noun

wing nut (plural wing nuts)

1. A nut with wing-like projections to provide leverage in turning with thumb and forefinger.
2. (slang) One who advocates extreme measures or changes; a radical.
3. (slang, Australia) Someone with large, protruding ears.

Synonyms

• (hardware): butterfly nut
• (hardware): thumbnut (some designs)

Related terms

• wingnut (plant)

Translations

nut with wing-like projections

Danish: vingemøtrik c Finnish: siipimutteri (fi), lehtimutteri (fi) French: écrou à oreilles (fr) German: Flügelmutter (de) f Greek: πεταλούδα (el) f (petaloúda) Ido: aletoskrubino (io)

Irish: cnó eiteach m, cnó cluasach m Manx: cro cleashagh m Russian: барашковая га́йка f (baraškovaja gájka), барашек (ru) m (barašek) Spanish: palomilla (es) Swedish: vingmutter c

(slang) one who advocates extreme measures or changes; a radical

Russian: экстреми́ст (ru) m (ekstremíst), радика́л (ru) m (radikál)

Further reading

• Wingnut (hardware) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia