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chestnut

Pronunciation: /ˈtʃɛsnʌt/
Translate chestnut | into French | into German | into Italian | into Spanish
Definition of chestnut

noun

  • 1 (also sweet chestnut) a glossy hard brown edible nut which develops within a bristly case and which may be roasted and eaten.
  • [mass noun] a deep reddish-brown colour: [as modifier]:chestnut hair
  • (also chesnut) a horse of a reddish-brown or yellowish-brown colour, with a brown mane and tail: [as modifier]:a chestnut stallion
  • 2 (also chestnut tree, sweet chestnut, or Spanish chestnut) the large European tree that produces the edible chestnut, with serrated leaves and heavy timber.
    • Castanea sativa, family Fagaceae
  • short for horse chestnut.
  • used in names of trees and plants that are related to the sweet chestnut, or produce similar nuts or edible parts that resemble them, e.g. water chestnut.
  • 3a small horny patch on the inside of each of a horse’s legs.

Phrases

an old chestnut

a joke, story, or subject that has become tedious and uninteresting through constant repetition: the subject under discussion is that old chestnut, public or private financing of the arts

pull someone's chestnuts out of the fire

succeed in a hazardous undertaking for someone else’s benefit.
[with reference to the fable of a monkey using a cat's paw to extract roasting chestnuts from a fire]

Origin:

early 16th century: from Old English chesten (from Old French chastaine, via Latin from Greek kastanea) + nut

Spelling help

Remember that chestnut is spelled with a t in the middle as well as at the end.

chestnut in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of chestnut in the US English dictionary

Nearby words

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