chestnut

American  

[ches-nuht, -nuht] / ˈtʃɛsˌnʌt, -nət /

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.

9. Also called liver chestnut.  a horse of a solid, dark-brown color.

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adjective

1. being reddish-brown in color.

2. (of food) containing or made with chestnuts.

   turkey with chestnut stuffing.

idioms

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

chestnut British  

/ 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

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chestnut More Idioms  

1. see old chestnut.

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Other Word Forms

• chestnutty adjective

Etymology

Origin of chestnut

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

Example Sentences

Three giant horse chestnut trees, each over 80 feet tall, stand guard in front of my house.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 4, 2026

The sweet and soft nut plays a large role in traditional mountain cooking and tradition because in places where you couldn’t grow wheat or barley, there were still chestnut trees.

From Salon • Jan. 24, 2026

When he opens it, the violin gleams with the sheen of a freshly split chestnut.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 24, 2025

The single combat involves swinging a conker -- a hardened horse chestnut -- on a string at your opponent's nut with murderous venom, until one is smashed to pieces.

From Barron's • Oct. 17, 2025

Her makeup was flawless and gold hoops flashed through chestnut curls.

From "Educated" by Tara Westover

Related Words

• antic
• farce
• gag
• humor
• laugh
• one-liner
• parody
• prank
• pun
• stunt
• trick
• wisecrack