nuts and bolts
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
Basic components or practical details
Literally: physical parts of a machine
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
The computer takes care of the nuts and bolts of the composition, the component Dr Mathews calls its predetermined part.
Sir Adrian Cadbury is not one of those who subscribes to the popular theory that a truly professional manager can take over the helm of any type of business with only a superficial knowledge of the nuts and bolts.
British National Corpus sentence via the MAGPIE corpus (CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30)
Sources & notes
Listed on Wikipedia “Irreversible binomial” (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-29). Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-30; pending editor spot-check.
Equivalents & related
Common questions
What does “nuts and bolts” mean?
Basic components or practical details Literally: physical parts of a machine
Is “nuts and bolts” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.
What is the closest equivalent?
“bu lông và đai ốc” (Tiếng Việt) — near equivalent.