chestnut

[ ches-nuht, -nuht ]
See synonyms for: chestnutchestnuts on Thesaurus.com

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.

  1. the wood of any of these trees.

  2. any fruit or tree resembling the chestnut, as the horse chestnut.

  3. reddish brown.

  4. an old or stale joke, anecdote, etc.

  5. the callosity on the inner side of the leg of a horse.

  6. a reddish-brown horse having the mane and tail of the same color.: Compare bay5 (def. 2).

  7. 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.

Idioms about chestnut

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

Origin of chestnut

1
1350–1400; 1880–85 for def. 6; earlier chesten nut,Middle English chesten,Old English cysten chestnut tree (<Latin castanea<Greek kastanéa) + nut

Other words from chestnut

  • chestnutty, adjective

Words Nearby chestnut

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use chestnut in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for chestnut

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

  1. the hard wood of any of these trees, used in making furniture, etc

    • a reddish-brown to brown colour

    • (as adjective): chestnut hair

  2. a horse of a yellow-brown or golden-brown colour

  3. a small horny callus on the inner surface of a horse's leg

  4. informal an old or stale joke

Origin of chestnut

1
C16: from earlier chesten nut: chesten, from Old French chastaigne, from Latin castanea, from Greek kastanea

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Idioms and Phrases with chestnut

chestnut

see old chestnut.

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.