the.com/nutcracker
a tiny wooden soldier with the jaw strength to dominate a Christmas ballet empire
means a tool, hinged or screw-driven, that cracks the hard shells of nuts to free the kernel inside.
from A plain English compound, exactly what it says: "nut" (Old English hnutu) plus "cracker," from the verb "crack" (Old English cracian, to make a sharp sound or split). The lever-jawed kitchen tool came first; the carved soldier-shaped figure is a German tradition — Nussknacker — that later, by way of Hoffmann's tale and Tchaikovsky's ballet, made the word dance.
- German origin
- Carved in Erzgebirge mountains since the 1600s
- Ballet fame
- Tchaikovsky's 1892 score flopped at its premiere
- Bared teeth
- Folklore says they scare off evil spirits
- Bird namesake
- A real corvid cracks pine seeds with its beak
- Cracking power
- Lever design multiplies your hand's squeezing force
for instance
tchaikovsky nutcracker ballet — premiered at mariinsky theatre, st. petersburg in 1892
nutcracker market london — annual christmas fair in london's barbican since 1981