chestnut

== English == === Etymology === The noun is a contraction of chest(en) (“(obsolete) chestnut tree; fruit of this tree, chestnut”) +‎ nut. Chesten is a late variant of chesteine (obsolete), from Middle English chesten, chesteine, chasteine, chesteyne (“chestnut tree (Castanea sativa); fruit of this tree; wood of this tree”), from Old French chastaigne, chastaine (French châtaigne), from Latin castanea (“chestnut tree; fruit of this tree”) (whence Old English ċisten), from Ancient Greek κᾰστᾰ́νειᾰ (kăstắneiă), a variant of κᾰ́στᾰνᾰ (kắstănă, “sweet chestnut”); for further etymology, see that entry. Doublet of castanet. Noun sense 4 (“joke, phrase, etc., which has been repeated so often as to have grown ineffective or tiresome”) may refer to an 1816 play, The Broken Sword, by William Dimond (1781 – c. 1837), in which one character begins to relate a story in which a boy slips down from a cork tree, and another interrupts him to say that he had previously repeated the story many times, and always mentioned a chestnut tree. The adjective is probably from an attributive use of the noun; compare French (of hair) châtain (“chestnut”) (from châtaigne (“a chestnut”)) and marron (“brown”) (from marron (“a horse chestnut or chestnut”)). === Pronunciation === (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈt͡ʃɛs(t)nʌt/ (General American) IPA(key): /ˈt͡ʃɛs(t)ˌnʌt/ Rhymes: -ɛsnʌt, -ɛstnʌt Hyphenation: chest‧nut === Noun === chestnut (countable and uncountable, plural chestnuts) (countable) An edible nut (technically a fruit) of the Spanish chestnut or sweet chestnut tree (Castanea sativa); also (chiefly preceded by a descriptive word), a nut from a related shrub or tree; or a similar nut from an unrelated plant. Synonyms: Spanish chestnut, sweet chestnut (countable) In full chestnut tree: the shrub or tree that bears this nut, the Spanish chestnut or sweet chestnut (Castanea sativa); also (chiefly preceded by a descriptive word), a shrub or tree of the genus Castanea. Synonyms: Spanish chestnut, sweet chestnut (uncountable) Wood of a chestnut tree. (countable, UK) Short for horse chestnut (“any of several tree species of the genus Aesculus, especially Aesculus hippocastanum; the fruit of such a tree”). (by extension) Things resembling a chestnut fruit in appearance or colour. (uncountable) A dark, reddish-brown colour, like that of chestnut fruit (sense 1). (countable) A horse with a reddish-brown coat, mane and tail. (countable) An oval or round horny plate located on the inner side of the leg of a horse or other equines, which is thought by some people to correspond with the thumbnail of other animals. Synonym: night eye Coordinate term: castor (countable, figurative) Chiefly in old chestnut: a joke, meme, phrase, ploy, etc. which has been repeated so often as to have grown ineffective or tiresome; a cliché. Synonym: platitude ==== Alternative forms ==== chesnut (obsolete) ==== Hyponyms ==== ==== Derived terms ==== ==== Related terms ==== castanet ==== Descendants ==== → Gujarati: ચેસ્ટનટ (cesṭanaṭ) ==== Translations ==== ==== See also ==== === Adjective === chestnut (not comparable) Of a deep reddish-brown colour, like that of a chestnut fruit (noun sense 1). Synonym: castaneous ==== Derived terms ==== ==== Related terms ==== castanet ==== Translations ==== === References === === Further reading === chestnut on Wikipedia.Wikipedia horse chestnut on Wikipedia.Wikipedia chestnut (color) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia chestnut (horse anatomy) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia chestnut (horse color) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia chestnut (joke) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia chestnut (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia === Anagrams === Chesnutt