nuts and bolts

noun

1. the essential or basic aspects:

   to learn the nuts and bolts of a new job.

nuts and bolts

plural noun

1. informal.
   the essential or practical details

Other Words From

• nuts-and-bolts adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of nuts and bolts¹

First recorded in 1955–60

Example Sentences

Those materials from third-party vendors will be the physical and metaphorical nuts and bolts that are used to construct each satellite.

From Seattle Times

“It was a huge gift that basically saved us two weeks of rehearsal, as we worked out fight choreography, physical comedy timing and the nuts and bolts of farce,” FastHorse said.

From Los Angeles Times

“Constellation” has elements of 1970s-style paranoid thrillers like “Capricorn One” and “The Parallax View,” combined with scenes showing the nuts and bolts of space travel, as in Apple TV’s “For All Mankind.”

From New York Times

The process paved the way for the next generation of leaders to learn the nuts and bolts of running a multibillion-dollar organization and to prove their readiness for more responsibility.

From Los Angeles Times

One is to examine its nuts and bolts and assess DeSantis’ ability at retail campaigning; that’s the method of the political press corps, which prefers horse-race coverage to writing about things as dull as policies.

From Los Angeles Times