E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
Nuts.
Heads; so called from their resemblance to nuts. Probably “crack,” applied to heads, is part of the same figure of speech.
1
“To go off their nuts about ladies,
As dies for young fellars as fights.”
Sims: Dagonet Ballads (Polly).
It is time to lay our nuts aside (Latin, Relin’quere nuces). To leave off our follies, to relinquish boyish pursuits. The allusion is to an old Roman marriage ceremony, in which the bridegroom, as he led his bride home, scattered nuts to the crowd, as if to symbolise to them that he gave up his boyish sports.
2
That’s nuts to him. A great pleasure, a fine treat. Nuts, among the Romans, made a standing dish at dessert; they were also common toys for children; hence, to put away childish things is, in Latin, to put your nuts away.
