# What does ‘in a nutshell’ mean?

To “in a nutshell” means to in a brief summary. Brewer's traces the image to a classical anecdote: the Iliad written so small it could fit inside a walnut shell, cited by Pliny the Elder.

## What it means

- Brewer's traces the image to a classical anecdote: the Iliad written so small it could fit inside a walnut shell, cited by Pliny the Elder.

## Action steps

1. Standard phrase before a short summary.
2. Example: In a nutshell, we're merging with our competitor.

## Sources

- [Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898) — Internet Archive scan](https://archive.org/details/brewers-dictionary-of-phrase-and-fable)

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