chestnut

1 of 2

noun

chest·​nut ˈches(t)-(ˌ)nət 

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 U.S. 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 bay entry 2 sense 1, sorrel entry 1 sense 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 (such as a musical piece or a saying) repeated to the point of staleness

chestnut

2 of 2

adjective

1

: of the color chestnut

2

: of, relating to, or resembling a chestnut

Synonyms

Noun

• banality
• bromide
• cliché
• cliche
• commonplace
• groaner
• homily
• platitude
• shibboleth
• trope
• truism

Examples of chestnut in a Sentence

Noun

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

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

Embedded in that chestnut is an assumption—​that the road is inviolable and eternal, as fixed in its course as a river. —Ben Goldfarb, Smithsonian Magazine, 5 Sep. 2023

The strands of pine cones and chestnuts give this look a seasonal spin. 36 Color Coordination Want to transform your home into an elegant space that can rival your favorite Christmas movie? —Anna Fixsen, ELLE Decor, 11 Aug. 2023

Greeny-blue eyes clear as the sparkle on a perfect day, shiny brown hair polished as chestnuts. —Laird Borrelli-Persson, Vogue, 17 July 2023

Take the American chestnut, which once dominated forests throughout the Eastern United States. —Jennifer Latner, BostonGlobe.com, 20 July 2023

The problem is that the chestnut and its hull are different, as this line shows. —Charles Finch, Los Angeles Times, 7 June 2023

But those were like frothy chestnuts in a set dominated by her ever-deepening post-2017 music. —Brian McCollum, Detroit Free Press, 10 June 2023

That concert felt like an outlier: chestnuts in a schedule otherwise full of deep cuts. —Globe Staff, BostonGlobe.com, 9 June 2023

The shade of chestnut she’s chosen makes her skin sallow. —Hazlitt, 7 June 2023

Adjective

Here are 20 ways to try chestnut brown hair this year. —Abigail Wilt, Southern Living, 25 Sep. 2023

Rising above the Georgia landscape’s tar-black creeks and still ponds were a diversity of trees — pine, oak, cypress, swamp chestnut — and the animals that lived in them. —John Kelly, Washington Post, 13 Sep. 2023

In Dakota’s case, rich cocoa hues are the mainstay, as evidenced by her deep chestnut hair, smoky, cocoa lined eyes, and beautifully accentuated brows. —Georgia Day, Vogue, 13 Sep. 2023

The rich chestnut hue, imparted entirely by the cask, contrasts dramatically with the silver capsule and the distinctive shades of the elm sculpture. —Robb Report Studio, Robb Report, 12 Sep. 2023

Isabel Hernández Díaz is used to looking out the window of her stone house in La Florida and seeing a panoply of avocado and chestnut trees, flowering laurel, and dense pine forest. —Colette Davidson, The Christian Science Monitor, 8 Sep. 2023

This particular restaurant, however, used a stainless steel spätzle maker, instead of a pastry bag, to give the chestnut mix a unique spaghetti-like appearance. —Carolyn Hagler, Smithsonian Magazine, 17 Aug. 2023

Within a few decades, the fungus had killed billions of trees, making the American chestnut functionally extinct. —Jennifer Latner, BostonGlobe.com, 20 July 2023

However, the cookbook author loves to switch things up and has already gone back to waist-length chestnut strands now that everyone else has finally hopped aboard the scarlet hair trend. —Emily Kirkpatrick, Peoplemag, 25 July 2023

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Word History

Etymology

Noun

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

First Known Use

Noun

1519, in the meaning defined at sense 1b

Adjective

1555, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing chestnut

• chestnut blight
• horse chestnut
• Spanish chestnut
• Chinese chestnut
• chestnut oak
• water chestnut

• chestnut blight
• horse chestnut
• Spanish chestnut
• Chinese chestnut
• chestnut oak
• water chestnut

Kids Definition

chestnut

1 of 2 noun

chest·​nut ˈches-(ˌ)nət 

1

a

: a sweet edible nut from any of several trees or shrubs related to the beeches

b

: a tree or shrub bearing chestnuts

especially : an American tree that was formerly common and grew to large size in eastern forests but has been largely wiped out by the chestnut blight and now grows only to the size of a shrub or sapling

c

: the wood of a chestnut tree

2

: horse chestnut

3

: a brown or reddish brown horse

chestnut

2 of 2 adjective

: of a reddish brown color

Medical Definition

chestnut

noun

chest·​nut ˈches-(ˌ)nət 

1

a

: a tree or shrub of the genus Castanea (C. dentata) that is found in eastern North 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