- any N temperate fagaceous tree of the genus Castanea, such as C. sativa (sweet or Spanish chestnut), which produce flowers in long catkins and nuts in a prickly bur
Compare horse chestnut, water chestnut - the edible nut of any of these trees
- the hard wood of any of these trees, used in making furniture, etc
- a reddish-brown to brown colour
- (as adjective): chestnut hair
- a horse of a yellow-brown or golden-brown colour
- informal an old or stale joke
WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2026
chest•nut /ˈtʃɛsˌnʌt, -nət/USA pronunciation
n.
adj.
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026- Plant Biology[countable] any of several tall trees of the beech family, having nuts that can be eaten.
- Botany, Plant Biology[countable] the nut of such a tree.
- [uncountable] the wood of any of these trees.
- [uncountable] a reddish brown color.
- [countable] an old joke, etc., that is no longer funny.
- Dog and Cat Breeds[countable] a horse having a reddish brown or brown body with mane and tail of the same or a lighter color.
adj.
- reddish brown.
chest•nut
(ches′nut′, -nət),USA pronunciation n.
adj.
chest′nut′ty, adj.
- Plant Biologyany of the several deciduous trees constituting the genus Castanea, of the beech family, having toothed, oblong leaves and bearing edible nuts enclosed in a prickly bur, and including C. dentata (American chestnut,) which has been virtually destroyed by the chestnut blight, C. sativa (European chestnut,) C. mollissima (Chinese chestnut,) and C. crenata (Japanese chestnut.)
- Plant Biologythe edible nut of such a tree.
- the wood of any of these trees.
- Plant Biologyany fruit or tree resembling the chestnut, as the horse chestnut.
- reddish brown.
- an old or stale joke, anecdote, etc.
- Zoologythe callosity on the inner side of the leg of a horse. See diag. under horse.
- Dog and Cat Breedsa reddish-brown horse having the mane and tail of the same color. Cf. bay5 (def. 2).
- Dog and Cat BreedsAlso called liver chestnut. a horse of a solid, dark-brown color.
- Idioms pull someone's chestnuts out of the fire, to rescue someone from a difficulty.
adj.
- reddish-brown.
- Food(of food) containing or made with chestnuts:turkey with chestnut stuffing.
- Greek kastanéa) + nut
- Latin castanea
- 1350–1400; 1880–85 for def. 6; earlier chesten nut, Middle English chesten, Old English cysten chestnut tree (
Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::
chestnut /ˈtʃɛsˌnʌt/ n
'chestnut' also found in these entries (note: many are not synonyms or translations):
black bean
- buckeye
- caltrop
- castanets
- conker
- conkers
- horse chestnut
- maroon
- marron
- muntjac
- roan
- Suffolk punch
- sweet chestnut
- water chestnut
- American chestnut
- Astarte
- banon
- Basenji
- bur
- California quail
- castanet
- cavalier King Charles spaniel
- chestnut blight
- chestnut bottle
- chestnut clam
- chestnut coal
- chestnut oak
- Chinese chestnut
- chinquapin
- esculin
- European chestnut
- griffon
- harlequin duck
- Irish setter
- Japanese chestnut
- Joe Miller
- kola nut
- koloa
- liver chestnut
- mandarin duck
- New Hampshire
- nut
- nut coal
- orchard oriole
- pochard
- redhead
- Red Wing
- ring-necked duck
- robin
- woodchat