Adjacent Words

Chestnut definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

CHESTNUT, n. The fruit, seed or nut of a tree belonging to the genus Fagus. It is inclosed in a prickly pericarp, which contains two or more seeds.
CHESTNUT, a. Being of the color of a chestnut; of a brown color. It is perhaps rarely used as a noun.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: (of hair or feathers) of a golden brown to reddish brown color; "a chestnut horse"; "chestnut hair" n
1: wood of any of various chestnut trees of the genus Castanea
2: any of several attractive deciduous trees yellow-brown in autumn; yield a hard wood and edible nuts in a prickly bur [syn: chestnut, chestnut tree]
3: edible nut of any of various chestnut trees of the genus Castanea
4: the brown color of chestnuts
5: a small horny callus on the inner surface of a horse's leg
6: a dark golden-brown or reddish-brown horse

Merriam Webster's

I. noun Etymology: Middle English chasteine, chesten chestnut tree, from Anglo-French chastein, chestain, from Latin castanea, from Greek kastanea Date: 14th century 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 bay II,1, sorrel I,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 II. adjective Date: 1555 1. of the color chestnut 2. of, relating to, or resembling a chestnut

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. & adj. --n. 1 a a glossy hard brown edible nut. b the tree Castanea sativa, bearing flowers in catkins and nuts enclosed in a spiny fruit. Also called Spanish chestnut or sweet chestnut. 2 any other tree of the genus Castanea. 3 = horse chestnut. 4 (in full chestnut-wood) the heavy wood of any chestnut tree. 5 a horse of a reddish-brown or yellowish-brown colour. 6 colloq. a stale joke or anecdote. 7 a small hard patch on a horse's leg. 8 a reddish-brown colour. --adj. of the colour chestnut. Phrases and idioms: liver chestnut a dark kind of chestnut horse. Etymology: obs. chesten f. OF chastaine f. L castanea f. Gk kastanea

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Chestnut Chest"nut (ch[e^]s"n[u^]t), n. [For chesten-nut; OE. chestein, chesten, chastein, chestnut, fr. AS. cisten in cisten-be['a]m chestnut tree, influenced by OF. chastaigne, F. ch[^a]taigne, both the AS. and the F. words coming from L. castanea a chestnut, Gr. ka`stanon, fr. Ka`stana a city of Pontus, where chestnut trees grew in abundance, and whence they were introduced into Europe. Cf. Castanets.] 1. (Bot.) The edible nut of a forest tree (Castanea vesca) of Europe and America. Commonly two or more of the nuts grow in a prickly bur. 2. The tree itself, or its light, coarse-grained timber, used for ornamental work, furniture, etc. 3. A bright brown color, like that of the nut. 4. The horse chestnut (often so used in England). 5. One of the round, or oval, horny plates on the inner sides of the legs of the horse, and allied animals. 6. An old joke or story. [Slang] Chestnut tree, a tree that bears chestnuts.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Chestnut Chest"nut, a. Of the color of a chestnut; of a reddish brown color; as, chestnut curls.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(chestnuts) 1. A chestnut or chestnut tree is a tall tree with broad leaves. N-COUNT see also horse chestnut 2. Chestnuts are the reddish-brown nuts that grow on chestnut trees. You can eat chestnuts. N-COUNT 3. Something that is chestnut is dark reddish-brown in colour. ...a woman with chestnut hair. ...a chestnut mare. COLOUR

Moby Thesaurus

Joe Miller, Titian, adust, auburn, banality, bay, bay-colored, bayard, brazen, bromide, bronze, bronze-colored, bronzed, brownish-red, buckskin, calico pony, carroty, castaneous, chestnut-brown, cliche, commonplace, commonplace expression, copper, copper-colored, coppery, corn, cupreous, dapple-gray, dun, erythristic, familiar tune, ferruginous, foxy, gray, grizzle, hackneyed saying, henna, joke with whiskers, lieu commun, liver-brown, liver-colored, livid-brown, locus communis, mahogany, old joke, old saw, old song, old story, old turkey, old wheeze, paint, painted pony, piebald, pinto, platitude, prosaicism, prosaism, prose, red-crested, red-haired, red-polled, red-tufted, reddish-brown, reiteration, retold story, roan, rubiginous, rufous, russet, russety, rust, rust-colored, rusty, skewbald, sorrel, stereotyped saying, sunburned, terra-cotta, trite joke, trite saying, triticism, twice-told tale, warmed-over cabbage, xanthous