Using enclosing WordPress shortcodes to pass $content

I'm trying to use shortcodes for a glossary function. The function connects to a database, queries the word and returns the definition.

Currently, it works if I use self-closing shortcodes.

For example:

    function defineGlossary($atts) {
    extract(shortcode_atts(array(
    'term' => '0'
    ), $atts));

    // connect to database and grab definition

    $glossary_output .= "<span title='";
    $glossary_output .= $result_definition;
    $glossary_output .= "'>";
    $glossary_output .= $term;
    $glossary_output .= "</span>";
    return $glossary_output;
    }
    add_shortcode("glossary", "defineGlossary");

[glossary="administrator"] as a shortcode works great with this code. It returns

    <span title="definition pulled from the database">administrator</span>.

I'd prefer to use an enclosing shortcose such as [glossary]administrator[/glossary] Unfortunately, I cannot get this to work since I don't know how (or if it's possible) to pass the $content as a variable (to send to the database and find the definition).

Update from below. If I simplify it to:

    <?php
    function defineGlossary($atts, $shortcodeContent = null) {
    $glossary_output .= "<span title='";
    $glossary_output .= "Sample Definition";
    $glossary_output .= "'>";
    $glossary_output .= $shortcodeContent;
    $glossary_output .= "</span>";
    return $glossary_output;
    }
    add_shortcode("glossary", "defi开发者_如何学CneGlossary");
    ?>

And use [glossary]administrator[/glossary] it just returns [glossary]administrator in the content.

Just add a second variable to your function to handle the shortcode content. This will be passed along if it exists.

 function defineGlossary($atts, $shortcodeContent = null) {
     if (is_null( $content )) {
         //handle if shortcode isn't defined 
     }

     // connect to database and grab definition
     $glossary_output .= "<span title='";
     $glossary_output .= $result_definition;
     $glossary_output .= "'>";
     $glossary_output .= $shortcodeContent;
     $glossary_output .= "</span>";
     return $glossary_output;
 }
 add_shortcode("glossary", "defineGlossary");

I didn't test this, but I think it does what you want.