— chestnutty , adj.
/ches"nut', -neuht/ , n.
1. any 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) .
2. the edible nut of such a tree.
3. the wood of any of these trees.
4. any fruit or tree resembling the chestnut, as the horse chestnut.
5. reddish brown.
6. an old or stale joke, anecdote, etc.
7. the callosity on the inner side of the leg of a horse. See diag. under horse .
8. a reddish-brown horse having the mane and tail of the same color. Cf. bay 5 (def. 2).
9. Also called liver chestnut . a horse of a solid, dark-brown color.
10. pull someone's chestnuts out of the fire , to rescue someone from a difficulty.
adj.
11. reddish-brown.
12. (of food) containing or made with chestnuts: turkey with chestnut stuffing.
[ 1350-1400; 1880-85 for def. 6; earlier chesten nut, ME chesten, OE cysten chestnut tree ( castanea kastanéa ) + NUT ]