nuts, the n.3
(US Und.) the shell game under shell n.; lit. the shells that are used to hide the pea.
![[US]](/static/img/flags/us.png "United States") | Conversations of a Chorus Girl 15: ‘Circus Joe,’ who worked the nuts on the edge of the crowd. | |
| Philosophy of Johnny the Gent 37: I'd like to have the privilege o' playin' the nuts in the middle of the main street of the town for just about a week, an’ I'd have all the dough I'd need for the rest o' me life. | |
| Vocab. Criminal Sl. |
In compounds
(US und.) the site of a shell game under shell n.
| Barkeep Stories 101: ‘W’y don’t you start a nut-joint?’ asked the pup. |
(US und.) the operator of a shell game under shell n.; thus nut-spieling, operating such a game.
| Barkeep Stories 59: ‘I was joined out wid a nut-spieler an’ we was hop-skotchin’ t’roo Texas’. | |
| Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 17 Mar. 6/1: Smith started life [...] selling little cakes of soap with money wrapped around it [...] From that he drifted to ‘nut spieling,’ working the three-shell game in mining camps. |