chestnut

/ˌtʃɛstˈnʌt/

/ˈtʃɛsnət/

Other forms: chestnuts

A chestnut is a kind of tree; it's also the name of the nuts it grows and the dark brown color of their shells. So you could theoretically climb a chestnut and pick a chestnut-colored chestnut!

American chestnuts, which were once abundant in the northeastern U.S., are essentially extinct today. You can still find edible chestnuts, which are delicious when roasted, that come from Asian-European hybrid trees. The color of this nut is perfect for describing brown things like your friend's glossy chestnut hair or your mom's chestnut boots. Colloquially, a chestnut is also an overly familiar joke, like that tired old chestnut your dad always tells that makes everyone groan.

Definitions of chestnut

1. noun

   any of several attractive deciduous trees yellow-brown in autumn; yield a hard wood and edible nuts in a prickly bur
   synonyms: chestnut tree

   types:

   American chestnut, American sweet chestnut, Castanea dentata

   large tree found from Maine to Alabama

   Castanea sativa, European chestnut, Spanish chestnut, sweet chestnut

   wild or cultivated throughout southern Europe, northwestern Africa and southwestern Asia

   Castanea mollissima, Chinese chestnut

   a small tree with small sweet nuts; wild or naturalized in Korea and China

   Castanea crenata, Japanese chestnut

   a spreading tree of Japan that has a short trunk

   Allegheny chinkapin, Castanea pumila, chinquapin, dwarf chestnut, eastern chinquapin

   shrubby chestnut tree of southeastern United States having small edible nuts

   Castanea ozarkensis, Ozark chinkapin, Ozark chinquapin, chinquapin

   shrubby tree closely related to the Allegheny chinkapin but with larger leaves; southern midwestern United States

   type of:

   tree

   a tall perennial woody plant having a main trunk and branches forming a distinct elevated crown; includes both gymnosperms and angiosperms
2. noun

   wood of any of various chestnut trees of the genus Castanea
   type of:

   wood

   the hard fibrous lignified substance under the bark of trees
3. noun

   edible nut of any of various chestnut trees of the genus Castanea
   type of:

   edible nut

   a hard-shelled seed consisting of an edible kernel or meat enclosed in a woody or leathery shell
4. noun

   the brown color of chestnuts
   type of:

   brown, brownness

   an orange of low brightness and saturation
5. noun

   a dark golden-brown or reddish-brown horse
   type of:

   Equus caballus, horse

   solid-hoofed herbivorous quadruped domesticated since prehistoric times
6. adjective

   (of hair or feathers) of a golden brown to reddish brown color
   “a chestnut horse”

   “chestnut hair”

   synonyms:

   chromatic

   being, having, or characterized by hue
7. noun

   a small callus on the inner surface of a horse's leg
   type of:

   callus

   bony tissue formed during the healing of a fractured bone