horse chestnut


noun
  1. a tree, Aesculus hippocastanum, native to the Old World, having digitate leaves and upright clusters of white flowers.

  2. the shiny, brown, nutlike seed of this tree or of other trees of the genus Aesculus.

Origin of horse chestnut

1
1590–1600; translation of New Latin castanea equīna; so named from its use in treating respiratory diseases of horses

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

How to use horse chestnut in a sentence

  • Then he felt better, especially after he had rubbed a horse chestnut on his sore leg.

  • Her perfectly arranged hair was glossy brown, with glints in it like the colour of a horse-chestnut.

    December Love | Robert Hichens
  • Several people stood before the Rectory, beneath the shade of a large horse-chestnut tree.

    The Fourth Watch | H. A. Cody
  • Many Americans wear the seed of the horse-chestnut, and many others wear lucky coins.

  • I tried in vain to get his honest opinion on horse-chestnut blossoms as compared with apples and peaches and apricots.

    Riviera Towns | Herbert Adams Gibbons

British Dictionary definitions for horse chestnut

horse chestnut

noun
  1. any of several trees of the genus Aesculus, esp the Eurasian A. hippocastanum, having palmate leaves, erect clusters of white, pink, or red flowers, and brown shiny inedible nuts enclosed in a spiky bur: family Hippocastanaceae

  2. Also called: conker the nut of this tree

Origin of horse chestnut

1
C16: so called from its having been used in the treatment of respiratory disease in horses

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