You are welcome to answer questions posted in the Ask a Teacher forum as long as your suggestions, help, and advice reflect a good understanding of the English language. If you are not a teacher, you will need to state that clearly at the top of your post. Please note, all posts are moderated by our in-house language experts, so make sure your suggestions, help, and advice house the kind of information an international language teacher would offer. If not, and your posts do not contribute to the topic in a positive way, they will be subject to deletion.
A colloquialism keeps jumping out at me in recent business conversations and I'm interested in finding its origin and intended use. The phrase is "nut it out" as in, "I'm interested in finding a solution to this problem. Let's all get together and 'nut it out'".
I don't know of that expression, but "nut" can be used for "head" or "brain" (as in "use your nut"), therefore, to "nut it out" in that context might well be the same as "think on it until it's solved".
What about, an idiom stemming from, say, get the nut out of its shell? Often a solution can be difficult to find, especially if the problem is complex and you don't have the know-how or the right tools.
Note, in the past, specifically in the South, people, especially men, would sit around discussing solutions to important matter while "shucking" (usage?) [pea]nuts. Possibly, the idiom "nut it out" hails from those days It's a thought.
Meaning & Origin of "Nut it Out" 
It's a thought.
Linear Mode
