Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. anything agreeable, satisfactory, an acceptable situation; usu. as nuts for/to a person.

1617		Fletcher Mad Lover V iv: But they are needful mischiefs, And such are Nuts to me.
1665		‘R.M.’ Scarronides 57: Then news was brought (O that was nuts) That they must now set up their hutts.
1685		N. Thompson Loyal Songs 198: By turns the saints turn’d up their Scuts / Each jealous of the others bliss, / The pleasure was as sweet as Nuts / Like the Devil and Witch they kiss & hug.
1706		R. Estcourt Fair Example I i: Ah! ’tis Nuts to you, and you always think that a thick Shell has the Sweetest Kernel.
1712		Swift letter xxxviii 8 Jan. in Journal to Stella (1901) 378: Lord-keeper and Treasurer teased me for a week. It was nuts to them; a serious thing with a vengeance.
1742–4		R. North Lives of the Norths (1826) I 39: This was nuts to the old Lord, who thought he had outwitted Frank .
1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue n.p.: It was nuts for them; i.e. it was very agreeable to them.
c.1800		‘The Dustman’s Delight’ in Holloway & Black I (1975) 87: This was nuts for us dustmen.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum [as cit. 1785].
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue [as cit. 1785].
1837		R. Barham ‘The Lay of St. Odile’ in Ingoldsby Legends (1840) 256: One hint to your vassals, – a month at ‘the Mill’ / Shall be nuts to what they’ll get who worry Odille!
1840		T. Haliburton Clockmaker III 46: He knew it was nuts to me, and that I wouldn’t spare him one mite or morsel.
1843		Dickens Christmas carol 1: To edge his way along the crowded paths of life, warning all human sympathy to keep its distance, was what the knowing ones call ‘nuts’ to Scrooge.
1859		G.F. Atkinson Curry & Rice (3 edn) n.p.: Herr von Guttler is ‘great nuts’.
1866		Australasian (Melbourne) 4 Aug. 11/2: The ‘route’ is not always hailed with delight by the soldier, but in my case it was, to use a slang term, ‘real nuts’.
1878		‘’Arry to the Front!’ in Punch 9 Mar. 100/2: I tell you, it’s nuts and no error.
1884		H. Smart Post to Finish II 240: It was nuts to me to find I had just done Phaeton.
1885		Western Dly Press 20 Aug. 3/7: Houp-la! Here be ‘nuts’ for Aunt ‘Sally’!
1890		‘’Arry on the ’Oliday Season’ in Punch 16 Aug. 74/1: ’Ardly know which is lummiest, swelp me! It’s nuts to ’ook on to a swell.
1897		‘Mark Twain’ Tom Sawyer, Detective 11: It was always nuts for Tom Sawyer – a mystery was.
1907		S.E. White Arizona Nights 44: This was nuts for the Honourable Timothy Clare.
1918		R. Lardner Treat ’Em Rough 67: I took my first lesson last night and it is going to be nuts to learn it because most of the words is just like English only spelled different.
1931		W.R. Burnett Silver Eagle 85: ‘[H]e says to me: “That guy’s the nuts. He’s got a grip like Strangler Lewis”.’ .
1950		Goldin et al. DAUL 1471/1: Nuts, the. 1. Anything excellent or desirable; perfection.

2. (US) the nuts, a strategic advantage, esp. in gambling, as in a winning hand in cards.

1931		D. Maurer ‘Carnival Cant’ in AS VI:5 334: nuts, n. Drop, in the sense of having someone covered with a gun.
1940		D. Maurer Big Con 302: The nuts. See block game.