nutria 
nutria (nu'tri-a), . [< Sp. nutria, also /;</. 
an otter, < L. mro, an otter: see loutre, Lutra.} 
1. The coypou, Myopotamim coy I>UN. See Myo- 
potainuK, and cut under coy/iou. 2. The fur 
or pell of tl oypou. formerly much used like 
lienver. Sometimes, erroneously, ticutria. 
nutricationt (nu-tri-ka'shgn), n. [= It. tmlri- 
cnzione, < lj. Hulri<:tttio(H-)"n suckling, nursing, 
< nutricare, pp. itutricatus, suckle, nourish, bring 
ii]>, (. iiiilru' ( initric-), a nurse: see rse.] The 
manner of feeding or being fed. 
Beside the remarkable teeth, the tongue of this animal 
(the chameleon) is a second argument to overthrow this 
airy nutrication. Sir T. Browne, Vulg. Err., iii. 21. 
nutrient (nu'tri-ent),a. and . [<L.<n'e('-K 
ppr. of nutrire, suckle, nourish, foster; prob. 
akin to Skt. snu, distil. From L. nutrire are 
alsoult. nutriment, nutritive, etc., nourish, nurse, 
etc.] I. a. 1. Affording nutriment or nour- 
ishment; nourishing; nutritive; nutritious. 
Is not French Existence, as before, moat prurient, all 
loosened, most nutrient for it? 
Carlyle, French Rev., I. viii. 2. (Dame*.) 
2. Conveying or purveying nourishment; ali- 
mentative: as, nutrient vessels Nutrient arte- 
ry, In anal., the principal or special artery which conveys 
blood Into the interior of any bone. The orifice by which 
it enters the bone is known as the nutrient foramen. 
II. . A nutrient substance ; something nu- 
tritious. 
Peptone and other nutrients. Science, VI. 118. 
nutrify (nu'tri-fi), v. i. ; pret. and pp. nutrified, 
ppr. Hutrifyiny. [Irreg. < L. nutrire, nourish, 
+ -ftcare, make (see -fy).} To nourish; be nu- 
tritious. 
Wench Wines maybe said to pickle Meat in the Stomach ; 
but this is the Wine that digests, and doth not only breed 
good Blood, but It nutrifieth also, being a glutinous sub- 
stantial liquor. Bowed, Letters, ii. M. 
nutriment (uu'tri-ment), n. [= P. nutriment = 
Sp. nutrimiento, nutrimento = Pg. It. nutrimento, 
< L. nutrimentum, nourishment, < nutrire, nour- 
ish: see nutrient.'] 1. That which nourishes; 
that which promotes the growth or repairs the 
natural waste of animal bodies, or which pro- 
motes the growth of vegetables; food; aliment; 
nourishment. 
This slave, 
Unto his honour, has my lord's meat in him : 
Why should it thrive and turn to nutriment, 
When he is turn'd to poison 1. 
Shak., T. of A., 111. 1. 61. 
2. Figuratively, that which promotes develop- 
ment or improvement ; pabulum. 
Does not the body thrive and grow, 
By food of twenty years ago? 
And is not virtue In mankind 
The nutriment that feeds the mind? 
Swift, Misc. 
nutrimental (nu-tri-men'tal), a. [= Sp. Pg. nu- 
trimental = It. nutrimentale, < LL. nutrimentalis, 
nourishing, < L. nutrimentum, nourishment: see 
nutriment.'} Having the qualities of food ; nu- 
tritious; nourishing; alimental. 
By virtue of this oil vegetables are nutrimental. 
Arbuthnot. 
nutrimentedt (nu'tri-men-ted), a, [< nutriment 
+ -e<f 2 .] Nourished; fed. 
Come hither, my vmll-nutriine-nted knave. 
Greene, Orlando Furioso. 
nutritialt (nu-trish'al), a. [< L. nutrieius, nu- 
tritius, that suckles or nurses, <. nutrire, suckle, 
nourish: see nutrient.] Of or pertaining to nu- 
trition. 
Diana praise, Muse, that in darts delights ; 
Lines still a maid ; and had nutritiall rights 
With her borne-brother, the farr-shooting sunn. 
Chapman, tr. of Homer's Hymn to Diana, 1. '2. 
nutrition (nu-trish'on), n. [= F. nutrition = 
Sp. nutrition = Pg.'nutriqdo = It. nutrizione, < 
L. "mitritio(n-), a nourishing, < nutrire, suckle, 
nourish: see nutrient.} 1. The act or process 
by which organisms, whether vegetable or ani- 
mal, absorb into their system their proper food 
and build it into their living tissues. 
By the term nutrition, employed in its widest sense, is 
understood the process, or rather the assemblage of pro- 
cesses, concerned in the maintenance and repair of the liv- 
ing body as a whole, or of its constituent parts or organs. 
Encyc. Brit., XVII. 067. 
2. That which nourishes ; nutriment. 
Fix'il like ;v plant on his peculiar spot, 
Tu draw nutrition, propagate, and rot. 
Pope, Essay on Man, ii. 64. 
nutritional (nu-trish'on-al), a. [< nutrition + 
-<il.} Of or pertaining to nutrition as a physio- 
logical function ; connected with the process of 
nutrition. 
The domain of infective diseases was widening at the 
expense of diseases due to nutritional and nervous changes. 
Lancet, No. 8460, p. 749. 
4045 
nutritionally (nu-trish'on-al-i), adv. As re- 
k'iinls nutrition; in relation to or in connec- 
tion with the supply of new matter to an or- 
ganism. 
nutritious (nu-trish'us), </. [< nutrition) + 
-ous.} Containing or contributing nutriment 
or nourishment; capable of promoting the 
growth or repairing the waste of organic bodies ; 
nourishing : as, nittritioux substances ; nutritious 
food. 
Troubled Xilus, whose nutritious flood 
With annual gratitude enrich d her meads. 
Dyer, Fleece, iii. 
To the mind, I believe, it will be found more nutritious 
to digest a page than to devour a volume. 
Macaulay, Athenian Orators. 
= Syn. See list under nourishing. 
nutritiously (nu-trish'us-li), adv. In a nutri- 
tious manner; nourishingly. 
nutritiousness (nu-trish'us-nes), n. The prop- 
erty of being nutritious. 
nutritive (nu'tri-tiv), a. [= F. nutritif = Sp. 
Pg. It. nutritivo, < L. nutrire, pp. nutritus, nour- 
ish: see nutrient.} 1. Having the property of 
nourishing; nutritious. 
It cannot be very savoury, wholesome, or nutritive. 
Jer. Taylor (?) Artlf. Handsomeness, p. 97. 
He [the perch] spawns but once a year, and is by phy- 
sicians held very nutritive. 
I. Walton, Complete Angler, p. 156. 
With each germ usually contained in an ovum is laid up 
some nutritive matter, available for growth before It com- 
mences its own struggle for existence. 
a. Spencer, Prin. of SocioL, 273. 
2. Of, concerned in, or pertaining to nutrition : 
as, the nutritive functions or processes Nutri- 
tive person, in zoot., the part of a compound organism, 
as of a hydrozoan, which specially functions as an organ of 
nutrition ; a gastrozooid. 
nutritively (nu'tri-tiv-li), adv. In a nutritive 
manner; nutritiously; nourishingly. 
nutritiveness (nu'tri-tiv-nes), w. The property 
of being nutritive. 
Sapidity and nutritiveness are closely bound together. 
a. Spencer, Data of Ethics, p. 104. 
nutritorial (nu-tri-to'ri-al), a. [< LL. nutri- 
torius, nutritive (see nutritory), + -al.} Con- 
cerned in or effecting nutrition, in a broad 
sense ; having the nature or office of the nutri- 
torium. 
nutritorium (nu-tri-td'ri-um), n. [NL. (of. ML. 
nutritorium, a nursery), neut. of LL. nutritorius, 
nutritive: see nutritional.'} In biol., the nu- 
tritive apparatus, or entire physical mechanism 
of nutrition. It includes not only the organs which 
directly furnish nourishment and so repairwaste, but also 
those which eliminate the refuse of the process. The term 
is correlated with motorium and sensonum. 
nutritory (nu'tri-to-ri), a. [< LL. nutritorius, 
nutritive, < L. nutrire, pp. nutritus, nourish : 
see nutrient.'} Concerned in or effecting nutri- 
tion : as, " a nutritory process," Jour, of Micros. 
-Set., N. S., XXX. iii. 297. 
nutrituret (nu'tri-tur), n. [= It. nutritura, < 
LL. nutritura, a nursing, a suckling, < L. nutrire, 
suckle, nourish, foster: see nutrient. Cf. nur- 
ture, from the same L. noun.] Nutritiveness; 
nutrition. 
I think if you saw me you would hardly know me, such 
Xutriture this deep sanguine Alicant Grape gives. 
Woirell, Letters, I. i. 26. 
Never make a meal of flesh alone ; have some other meat 
with it of less nutriture. Harvey, Consumptions. 
nut-rush (nut'rush), n. A plant of the genus 
Scleria, with nut-like fruit, 
nut-sedge (nut'sej), n. Same as nut-rush. 
nutshell (nut'shel), n. 1. The hard shell which 
forms the covering of the kernel of a nut: used 
proverbially for anything of small content or 
of little value. 
God, I could be bounded in a nutshell and count my- 
self a king of infinite space, were It not that I have bad 
dreams. Khak., Hamlet, ii. 2. 260. 
A fox had me by the back, and a thousand pound to a 
nut-shell I had never got off again. Sir R. L'Estranye. 
2. A bivalve mollusk of the family Nueulidce; 
a nutlet Beaked nutshell, a member of the fam- 
ily Ledido!. In a nutshell, in very small compass ; in a 
very brief or simple statement or form. 
All I have to lose, Diego, is my learning; 
And, when he has gotten that, he may put it in a nut-shell. 
Fletcher, Spanish Curate, ii. 1. 
1 have sometimes heard of an lliitd in a nutshell. 
Suift, Tale of a Tub, vii. 
A nervous patient who is never worried is a nervous 
patient cured. There it is i a nut-shell ! 
W. Collins, Armadale, iii. 
To lie in a nutshell, to occupy very little space ; figura- 
tively, to require little discussion or argument. 
Nuttallia (nu-tal'i-ii). H. [XL. (Torrey and 
Gray, 1841), named after Thomas Nuttall, an 
nuzzle 
American scientist (1786-1859).] A genus of 
small trees of the order Rosacece and the tribe 
I'l-inini; known by the live eiirjielf. Thriv ih but 
one species, native of northwestern America, a small tree 
odorous of prusslc acid, with obovate leaves, and loose 
drooping racemes of white flowers, followed by oblong 
drupes. See oso-berry. 
nuttalite (uut'al-it), w. [Named afterThomas 
Nuttall: see tfuttattia.} A white or smoky- 
brown variety of scapolite from Bolton in 
Massachusetts. 
nut-tapper (nut'tap'er), n. The European nut- 
hatch, tiitta camia. [Prov. Eng.] 
nutta-tree (nut'ft-tre), n. Same as nitta-tree. 
nutter (nut'er), . [< ME. nutter; < nut + -erl.] 
One who gathers nuts. 
A hazelwood 
By autumn nutters haunted. 
Tennyson, Enoch Arden. 
nuttiness (nut'i-nes), n. The property of being 
nutty ; a nutty flavor. 
The six essays which make up the volume are the ripe 
fruit of twenty years' meditation, and they have the nutti- 
ness of age about them. Atheiunan, No. 8231, p. 430. 
nut-topper (nut'top'er), n. A variant of nut- 
tapper. [Prov. Eng.] 
nut-tree (nut'tre), n. [< ME. nuttre, nutte tre; 
< nut + tree.} 1. Any tree which bears nuts. 
2. Specifically, the hazel. [Eng.] 
So in order ley hem on a table, 
And nuttre leves under wol not harme. 
PaUadius, Husbondrie (E. E. T. S.\ p. 93. 
Australian or Queensland nut-tree. See Macadamia. 
nutty (nut'i), a. [< nut + -y 1 .] 1. Abounding 
in nuts. 2. Having the flavorof nuts: as, nutty 
wine. 
nut-weevil (nut'we'vl), n. A weevil which 
lays its eggs in nuts. Balaninus nucum is an 
example, whose white grubs or larvae are found 
in nuts. See cut under Balaninug. 
nut- wrench (nut'rench), n. An instrument for 
fixing nuts on or removing them from screws. 
nux vomica (nuks vom'i-ka). [NL. : L. nux, a 
nut; NL. vomica, fern, of "vomicus, < vomere, pp. 
vomitus, vomit: see vom- 
it.'} 1 . The seed of Strych- 
nos Nux-vomica (which 
see, under Strychnos). 
These seeds are flat and circu- 
lar, three fourths of an inch in 
diameter, and one sixteenth of 
an Inch thick. They grow em- 
bedded in large numbers in the 
juicy pulp of a fruit resembling 
an orange, but with hard fragile 
rind. They are covered with 
fine silky hairs and composed 
mainly of a horny albumen, are 
acrid and bitter to the taste, 
and are highly poisonous. They 
yield principally the two alka- 
loids brucine and strychnine. 
The pharroacodynamic proper- 
ties of nux vomica are tno 
StryitiHOt \HX-vomica. 
a, the fruit cut transversely; 
seed ; c, a seed cut longi- 
lOSeof . 
strychnine. See quaker buttons, tudinally. 
under button. 
2. The tree producing the above fruit. It is 
widely dispersed In the East Indies, and attains a height 
of 40 feet. Its wood and root are very bitter, and form a 
native remedy for intermittent fevers, also for snake-bites. 
The timber is brownish-gray, hard and close-grained, and 
employed in Burma for carts, etc., as also for fine work. 
Also called makewood. 
nuyt, See noy. 
nuzzer (nuz'er), n. [< Hind, nazr, present, of- 
fering.] In East India, a present or offering 
made to a superior. 
nuzzle (nuz'f), t\; pret. and pp. nuzzled, ppr. 
nuzzling. [Formerly also nuzzel, nuzle, nusle, 
nustte, nousle, noozle, nozzle, nozzel, and errone- 
ously nursle, noursle (simulating nurse); < ME. 
noselen, noslen, nuslen, nouslen, thrust the nose 
in, also fondle closely, cherish, etc., freq., < 
nose, nose. Cf . nozzle, nozle, n. The word seems 
to have been confused with nurse (whence nur- 
sle, noursle) and with nentJe ; these are, how- 
ever, unrelated.] I. trans. 1. To thrust the 
nose in or into; root up with the nose. 2. To 
touch or rub with the nose ; press or rub the 
nose against. 
Horses, cows, deer, and dogs even, nuzzle each other ; but 
then a nuizle, being performed with the nose, is not a kiss 
very far from it. Mind in Katun, I. 142. 
3. To put a ring into the nose of (a hog). 4. 
To fondle closely, as a child. 5\. To nurse; 
foster; rear. 
If any man . . . nosel thee in any thing save in Christ, 
he is a false prophet Tin^lnl--. 
The greatest miserie which accoropanieth the Turkish 
thraldome is their zeale of making Proselytes, with mani- 
fold and strong inducements to such as haue beene more 
mizzled in superstitions then trayned vp in knowledge. 
Pvrchas, Pilgrimage, p. 318. 
