Crossword clues for wingnut
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
"nut with flared sides for turning with the thumb and forefinger;" so called for its shape (see wing (n.) + nut (n.)). Meaning "weird person" recorded by 1989, probably not from the literal sense but from the secondary sense of nut, influenced perhaps by slang senses of wing in wing-ding "wild party," originally "fit, spasm" (1937). An earlier, British, sense of wingnut was "person with large, protruding ears" (1986).
Wiktionary
n. 1 A nut having wing-like projections so that it can be turned easily by hand. 2 A deciduous tree of the genus (taxlink Pterocarya genus noshow=1) native to Asia. 3 (context slang derogatory English) Someone with crazy or extreme political views (especially extreme conservative views). 4 (context slang derogatory North American itinerant and street populations English) A mentally ill homeless person. 5 (context slang derogatory English) Someone perceived as odd, eccentric, and/or extreme. 6 (context slang rural US English) A member of the air force (in a town that hosts a USAF installation).
Wikipedia
Wingnut may refer to:
- Wingnut (hardware), a nut with a pair of wings to enable it to be turned without tools
"Wingnut" (sometimes "wing-nut") is an American political term used as a slur referring to a person who holds extreme, and often irrational, political views. According to Merriam-Webster, it is "a mentally deranged person" or "one who advocates extreme measures or changes : radical." In American politics, the term is more often aimed at members of the political right than those of the political left, for which the alternative term moonbat is more often used. David M. Herszenhorn of The New York Times has defined a "wing nut" as "a loud darling of cable television and talk radio whose remarks are outrageous but often serious enough not to be dismissed entirely." In his book Wingnuts: How the Lunatic Fringe is Hijacking America author and columnist John Avlon defined a wingnut as, "someone on the far-right wing or far-left wing of the political spectrum—the professional partisans, the unhinged activists and the paranoid conspiracy theorists. They're the people who always try to divide rather than unite us".
Responding to its use in an essay by Peter Coyote, Sean Parnell of the Center for Competitive Politics wrote:
Moreover, you're use of the term "wing-nut minorities" is interesting for one who decries the incivility of political discourse today. I haven't read the new and updated Miss Manners for Politics yet, but I'm guessing I'm not going to find a section in there approving of the use of pejorative namecalling and broadly delegitimizing and demonizing your opponents.
Coyote responded with a sarcastic retort:
Okay. I've been rightly taken to task by Sean Parnell for my rudeness in calling people with whom I disagree "wing-nuts." He's right and I'm wrong. But, what would you call people that believe that fully automatic weapons and cop-killer bullets should be freely available; who bomb abortion clinics and advocate the murder of doctors who perform abortions; who believe that anyone who is not a Christian is doomed to Hell, and people who would elevate Creationism to the status of science? Give me a polite name and I'll use it.
A wingnut or wing nut is a type of nut with two large metal "wings", one on each side, so it can be easily tightened and loosened by hand without tools.
A similar fastener with a male thread is known as a wing screw or a wing bolt.
wingnuts wing nuts.jpg|Bicycle wingnuts splash 10.jpg|Three wingnuts securing a cymbal and its mounting 12x8.jpg|Three wingnuts and wingbolts supporting a drum
Usage examples of "wingnut".
Cut it into five-inch chunks, use a vise to bend a hook into one end, hook it over the crossbar, run it through a hole in the center of the bowl and use a wingnut to hold the bowl down.
It was easy to hook the curved end of the bolt under the crossbar and twirl the wingnut down to tighten it.
I pretightened the wingnut on another assembly, checked my watch, swam to the next hole, and plugged it.
I knowed when I first seen him the son of a bitch had a loose wingnut, said Rawlins.
Hopefully it would harden up and prevent the wingnuts from being removed.
I took my time and estimated how far we could pretighten the wingnuts in the Zodiacs so that the divers wouldn't have to spend cumulative hours twisting them down.