chestnut

[ ches-nuht, -nuht ]

noun

1. any of the several deciduous trees constituting the genus Castanea, of the beech family, having toothed, oblong leaves and bearing edible nuts enclosed in a prickly bur, and including C. dentata American chestnut, which has been virtually destroyed by the chestnut blight, C. sativa European chestnut, C. mollissima Chinese chestnut, and C. crenata Japanese chestnut.
2. the edible nut of such a tree.
3. the wood of any of these trees.
4. any fruit or tree resembling the chestnut, as the horse chestnut.
5. reddish brown.
6. an old or stale joke, anecdote, etc.
7. the callosity on the inner side of the leg of a horse.
8. a reddish-brown horse having the mane and tail of the same color. Compare bay ⁵( def 2 ).
9. Also called liver chestnut. a horse of a solid, dark-brown color.

adjective

1. being reddish-brown in color.
2. (of food) containing or made with chestnuts:

   turkey with chestnut stuffing.

chestnut

/ ˈtʃɛsˌnʌt /

noun

1. any N temperate fagaceous tree of the genus Castanea, such as C. sativa ( sweet or Spanish chestnut ), which produce flowers in long catkins and nuts in a prickly bur Compare horse chestnut water chestnut dwarf chestnut
2. the edible nut of any of these trees
3. the hard wood of any of these trees, used in making furniture, etc
4. 1. a reddish-brown to brown colour
   2. ( as adjective )

      chestnut hair

5. a horse of a yellow-brown or golden-brown colour
6. a small horny callus on the inner surface of a horse's leg
7. informal.
   an old or stale joke

Other Words From

• chestnutty adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of chestnut¹

1350–1400; 1880–85 chestnut fordef 6; earlier chesten nut, Middle English chesten, Old English cysten chestnut tree (< Latin castanea < Greek kastanéa ) + nut

Word History and Origins

Origin of chestnut¹

C16: from earlier chesten nut: chesten, from Old French chastaigne, from Latin castanea, from Greek kastanea

Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

1. pull someone's chestnuts out of the fire, to rescue someone from a difficulty.

More idioms and phrases containing chestnut

see old chestnut .

Example Sentences

The following year, his balloon burst a mile above the ground in Virginia, and his re-attempt at the flight saw him wrecked among burr chestnut trees and almost killed.

From Salon

Mr Jakins, a conker competitor since 1977, denied using a steel horse chestnut at any point in the tournament, and said he kept a steel conker on him for "humour value".

From BBC

There were fears before the event that there could be a shortage of conkers due to high winds blowing horse chestnut seeds from trees earlier in the autumn.

From BBC

Organisers of the World Conker Championships in Southwick in Northamptonshire say there are enough horse chestnut seeds for this year's tournament.

From BBC

Speaking near the area she was found, now overgrown with brambles, nettles and horse chestnut trees, detective Franc Dannerolle says the teenager’s body was “disposed of like garbage”.

From BBC