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chestnutty

 - 3 dictionary results

chest⋅nut

  [ches-nuht, -nuht]
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–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
10. reddish-brown.
11. (of food) containing or made with chestnuts: turkey with chestnut stuffing.
—Idiom
12. pull someone's chestnuts out of the fire, to rescue someone from a difficulty.
Origin:
1350–1400; 1880–85 for def. 6; earlier chesten nut, ME chesten, OE cysten chestnut tree (< L castanea < Gk kastanéa) + nut

Related forms:
chestnutty, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Word Origin & History

chestnut 
1570, from chesten nut (1519), from M.E. chasteine, from O.Fr. chastaigne, from L. castanea, from Gk. kastaneia, which the Greeks thought meant either "nut from Castanea" in Pontus, or "nut from Castana" in Thessaly, but probably both places are named for the trees, not the other way around, and the word is probably borrowed from a language of Asia Minor. Of the dark reddish-brown color, 1656. Applied to the horse-chestnut 1832. Slang sense of "venerable joke or story" is from 1886, probably from a joke (first recorded 1888) based on an oft-repeated story in which a chestnut tree figures. The key part of the 1888 citation is:
"When suddenly from the thick boughs of a cork-tree --"
"A chestnut, Captain; a chestnut."
"Bah! booby, I say a cork-tree!"
"A chestnut," reiterates Pablo. "I should know as well as you, having heard you tell the tale these twenty-seven times."
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Medical Dictionary

Main Entry: chest·nut
Pronunciation: 'ches-(")n&t
Function: noun
1 a : a tree or shrub of the genus Castanea (C. dentata)that is found in eastern No. America and the leaf of which was formerly used to prepare an infusion for the treatment of whooping cough b : the edible nut of a chestnut
2 : a callosity on the inner side of the leg of the horse
Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, © 2002 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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