chestnut

1 of 2

noun

chest·​nut ˈches(t)-(ˌ)nət How to pronounce chestnut (audio)
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
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

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 See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'chestnut.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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

Time Traveler
The first known use of chestnut was in 1519

Dictionary Entries Near chestnut

Cite this Entry

“Chestnut.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/chestnut. Accessed 4 Oct. 2023.

Kids Definition

chestnut

1 of 2 noun
chest·​nut ˈches-(ˌ)nət How to pronounce chestnut (audio)
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
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 How to pronounce chestnut (audio)
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

More from Merriam-Webster on chestnut

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