View synonyms for chestnut

chestnut

[ ches-nuht, -nuht ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

noun

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.
the edible nut of such a tree.
the wood of any of these trees.
any fruit or tree resembling the chestnut, as the horse chestnut.
reddish brown.
an old or stale joke, anecdote, etc.
the callosity on the inner side of the leg of a horse.
a reddish-brown horse having the mane and tail of the same color. Compare bay ⁵( def 2 ).
Also called liver chestnut. a horse of a solid, dark-brown color.

adjective

being reddish-brown in color.
(of food) containing or made with chestnuts:
turkey with chestnut stuffing.

chestnut

/ ˈtʃɛsˌnʌt /

noun

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
the edible nut of any of these trees
the hard wood of any of these trees, used in making furniture, etc
1. a reddish-brown to brown colour
2. ( as adjective )
  chestnut hair
a horse of a yellow-brown or golden-brown colour
a small horny callus on the inner surface of a horse's leg
informal.
an old or stale joke

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Other Words From

chestnutty adjective

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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

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Word History and Origins

Origin of chestnut¹

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

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Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

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

More idioms and phrases containing chestnut

see old chestnut .

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

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