CHESTNUT

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does chestnut mean? 

• CHESTNUT (noun)
  The noun CHESTNUT has 6 senses:

1. wood of any of various chestnut trees of the genus Castanea

2. any of several attractive deciduous trees yellow-brown in autumn; yield a hard wood and edible nuts in a prickly bur

3. edible nut of any of various chestnut trees of the genus Castanea

4. the brown color of chestnuts

5. a small horny callus on the inner surface of a horse's leg

6. a dark golden-brown or reddish-brown horse

  Familiarity information: CHESTNUT used as a noun is common.

• CHESTNUT (adjective)
  The adjective CHESTNUT has 1 sense:

1. (of hair or feathers) of a golden brown to reddish brown color

  Familiarity information: CHESTNUT used as an adjective is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CHESTNUT (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Wood of any of various chestnut trees of the genus Castanea

Classified under:

Nouns denoting plants

Hypernyms ("chestnut" is a kind of...):

wood (the hard fibrous lignified substance under the bark of trees)

Holonyms ("chestnut" is a substance of...):

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

Sense 2

Meaning:

Any of several attractive deciduous trees yellow-brown in autumn; yield a hard wood and edible nuts in a prickly bur

Classified under:

Nouns denoting plants

Synonyms:

chestnut; chestnut tree

Hypernyms ("chestnut" is a kind of...):

tree (a tall perennial woody plant having a main trunk and branches forming a distinct elevated crown; includes both gymnosperms and angiosperms)

Meronyms (parts of "chestnut"):

chestnut (edible nut of any of various chestnut trees of the genus Castanea)

Meronyms (substance of "chestnut"):

chestnut (wood of any of various chestnut trees of the genus Castanea)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "chestnut"):

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

Holonyms ("chestnut" is a member of...):

Castanea; genus Castanea (chestnuts; chinkapins)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Edible nut of any of various chestnut trees of the genus Castanea

Classified under:

Nouns denoting foods and drinks

Hypernyms ("chestnut" is a kind of...):

edible nut (a hard-shelled seed consisting of an edible kernel or meat enclosed in a woody or leathery shell)

Holonyms ("chestnut" is a part of...):

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

Sense 4

Meaning:

The brown color of chestnuts

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Hypernyms ("chestnut" is a kind of...):

brown; brownness (an orange of low brightness and saturation)

Derivation:

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

Sense 5

Meaning:

A small horny callus on the inner surface of a horse's leg

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Hypernyms ("chestnut" is a kind of...):

callus (bony tissue formed during the healing of a fractured bone)

Sense 6

Meaning:

A dark golden-brown or reddish-brown horse

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Hypernyms ("chestnut" is a kind of...):

Equus caballus; horse (solid-hoofed herbivorous quadruped domesticated since prehistoric times)

• CHESTNUT (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

(of hair or feathers) of a golden brown to reddish brown color

Context example:

chestnut hair

Similar:

chromatic (being or having or characterized by hue)

Derivation:

chestnut (the brown color of chestnuts)

 Context examples 

Mrs. March folded the wavy chestnut lock, and laid it away with a short gray one in her desk.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

It has a feathered, silky coat that comes in shades of chestnut to mahogany, sometimes with splashes of white on the chest and feet.

(Irish Setter, NCI Thesaurus)

Bi-color Dachshunds may be deep black, brown, or gray with areas of bright chestnut.

(Dachshund, NCI Thesaurus)

As the raven drove along her four chestnut horses, she said sorrowfully to herself, “I know he has fallen asleep.”

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

Horse chestnut oil is used topically as a treatment for rheumatism and phlebitis.

(Aesculus hippocastanum Seed Fluid Extract, NCI Thesaurus)

Colors include fawn, sand, chestnut, silver and steel blue, black, tan and parti-color.

(Chihuahua, NCI Thesaurus)

He opened his cigar-box, and tilting it over he poured about twenty or thirty rough stones, varying from the size of beans to that of chestnuts, on the table.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The spring of 1803 was an early one, and the middle of April saw the leaves thick upon the chestnut trees.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

And the larger sheet, which had enclosed the rest, seemed by its first cramp line, “To poultice chestnut mare”—a farrier's bill!

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

Keeshonden are compact little animals with a strong resemblance to its ancestor the Samoyed, with oblique chestnut eyes, and erect triangular ears.

(Keeshond, NCI Thesaurus)