noun
chestnut
CHEHS-nuht
noun
1
A tree that produces glossy brown edible nuts, or the nut itself.
"They roasted chestnuts over the fire."
2
A joke or story that has been told so often it has stopped being funny or interesting.
"He trotted out the same old chestnut about his college days."
adj
1
A deep reddish-brown colour, like the nut.
"She had long chestnut hair."
How to Use Chestnut
Learner’s notesIn plain EnglishA brown nut from a chestnut tree, the reddish-brown colour named after it, or (informally) a stale, over-repeated joke.
Common pairings
roast chestnuts
chestnut hair
old chestnut
Word Forms
Chestnuts plural
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Etymology
A shortening of Middle English "chesteine" plus "nut," from Old French chastaigne, from Latin castanea. The "old joke" meaning is said to come from an early-1800s play in which a repeated tall tale always mentioned a chestnut tree.