Word: chestnut Part of Speech: noun 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: /ˈt͡ʃɛs(t)nʌt/, /ˈt͡ʃɛs(t)ˌnʌt/ 1. 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. Labels: countable Example: Of trouth the cheſtain trees brynge forth the ſoft ſwete cheſtnutte out of the ſharpe pricking ⁊ hard huſke. Example: The Cheſnut tree, is a very great, high & thicke tree, not much vnlike the Walnut tree. […] amongſt the leaues at the top of yͤ branches grow the Cheſnuttes whiche are browne without, ſomewhat flat almoſt after the faſhion of a hart, and playne and ſmooth polliſhed: they be alſo incloſed in ſhelles and very rough and prickley huſkes lyke to a Hedgehogge or Urchin, the which huſkes do open of their owne accorde when the Cheſnuttes be ripe ſo that they fall out of theie ſayde huſkes of their owne kinde. 2. 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. Labels: countable Example: The Cheſnut delighteth in ſhadowie places and mountaynes whoſe ſituation is towardes the North. Example: The next is the Cheſs-nut [Caſtanea] of vvhich Pliny [the Elder] reckons many kinds, eſpecially that about Tarentum and Naples, but vve commend thoſe of Portugal. […] [M]ay Copſes of Cheſs-nuts be vvonderfully increaſed and thickn'd by laying the tender and young branches; but ſuch as ſpring from the Nuts and Marrons are beſt of all, […] 3. 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. Labels: uncountable 4. 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. Labels: UK, abbreviation, alt-of, countable Example: And those three chestnuts near, that hung / In masses thick with milky cones. 5. Things resembling a chestnut fruit in appearance or colour. Labels: broadly, uncountable Example: Roſ[alind]. I'faith his haire is of a good colour. / Cel[ia]. An excellent colour: / Your Cheſſnut vvas euer the onely colour: […] Example: She can see, by the colour of my beard, that my hair would be a fine chesnut still. 6. Things resembling a chestnut fruit in appearance or colour. Labels: broadly, countable Example: [T]he noble Vice-President of the Club, Lord Carington […] led the way with his chestnuts, having a distinguished brother whip, Lord Londesborough, by his side. Example: Chestnut horses are fidgetty and hot, but seem to have less sense than bay horses, while bay horses, though they are cleverer, are the worst tempered and the most irritable—that is, browns are the soberest, bays are the worst tempered, and chestnuts are the most foolish. 7. Things resembling a chestnut fruit in appearance or colour. Labels: broadly, countable 8. 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. Labels: countable, figuratively Example: UNIQUE II Break My Stride […] Yep, this is a dance-leaning cover of the Matthew Wilder '80s pop chestnut. It has already saturated radio airwaves throughout Europe, with a number of programmers here already giving it positive feedback. Example: Take greed. He [Donald Trump]'s been cited many times for what now has become a chestnut: "The point is, you can't be too greedy."