chestnut

¹chest·nut

noun \ˈches(t)-(ˌ)nət\

Definition of CHESTNUT

1

a : any of a genus (Castanea) of trees or shrubs of the beech family; especially : an American tree (C. dentata) that was formerly a dominant or codominant member of many deciduous forests of the eastern United States but has now been largely eliminated by the chestnut blight and seldom grows beyond the shrub or sapling stage b : the edible nut of a chestnut c : the wood of a chestnut

2

: a grayish to reddish brown

3

: horse chestnut

4

: a chestnut-colored animal; specifically : a horse having a body color of any shade of pure or reddish brown with mane, tail, and points of the same or a lighter shade — compare ²bay 1, ¹sorrel 1

5

: a callosity on the inner side of the leg of the horse — see horse illustration

6

a : an old joke or story b : something (as a musical piece or a saying) repeated to the point of staleness

Examples of CHESTNUT

1. <an op-ed piece that's offers nothing but warmed-over chestnuts for solving the city's financial woes>

Origin of CHESTNUT

Middle English chasteine, chesten chestnut tree, from Anglo-French chastein, chestain, from Latin castanea, from Greek kastanea

First Known Use: 14th century

Related to CHESTNUT

Synonyms: banality, bromide, commonplace, cliché (also cliche), groaner, homily, platitude, shibboleth, trope, truism

Related Words: conventional wisdom, party line, routine; inanity; generality, generalization, simplification; adage, proverb, saw, saying; old wives' tale, stereotype

Near Antonyms: profundity

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Other Seed Plant Terms

aubergine, box, bramble, briar, composite, perpetual, pulse, trefoil

Rhymes with CHESTNUT

abut, all but, beechnut, blind gut, brush cut, buzz cut, catgut, clean-cut, clear-cut, cobnut, cockshut, crew cut, crosscut, doughnut, foregut, groundnut, haircut, jump cut, kick butt, locknut, Meerut, midgut, offcut, peanut, pignut, pine nut, putt-putt, rebut, recut, rotgut, rough cut, sackbut, shortcut, somewhat, tut-tut, uncut, walnut, wing nut, woodcut