chestnut

as inbronze
as inbrown
as injoke
as inauburn
as inplatitude
as inred
as inbanality
as intale
as inha-ha
as incliché
as incommonplace
as inanecdote

Synonyms for chestnut

adj coppery-brown color

Word Origin & History

1560s, from chesten nut (1510s), with superfluous nut (n.) + Middle English chasteine, from Old French chastain (12c., Modern French châtaigne), from Latin castanea "chestnut, chestnut tree," from Greek kastaneia, which the Greeks thought meant either "nut from Castanea" in Pontus, or "nut from Castana" in Thessaly, but probably both places are named for the trees, not the other way around, and the word is borrowed from a language of Asia Minor (cf. Armenian kask "chestnut," kaskeni "chestnut tree"). In reference to the dark reddish-brown color, 1650s. Applied to the horse-chestnut by 1832.

Slang sense of "venerable joke or story" is from 1885, explained 1888 by Joseph Jefferson (see "Lippincott's Monthly Magazine," January 1888) as probably abstracted from the 1816 melodrama "The Broken Sword" by William Dimond where an oft-repeated story involving a chestnut tree figures in an exchange between the characters "Captain Zavior" and "Pablo":

Jefferson traced the connection through William Warren, "the veteran comedian of Boston" who often played Pablo in the melodrama.

Example Sentences for chestnut

He heard the hum and clang of an electric car off through a chestnut grove.

But Andrew, with the chestnut running like a red flash beneath him, had vanished.

I'll trade this chestnut—and he's a fine traveler—with a good price to boot.

Reginald, having finished his chestnut, squeaked for another.

With my tomahawk I cut a mark in that chestnut yonder and buried my weapon at the foot of it.

Soon the Chestnut's head showed past his elbow, and they were both lapped on the Black.

Didn't beat—what the hell—didn't the Chestnut get the verdict?

An' if it wasn't fer Miss Allis it's a pity you couldn't a-sold him the Chestnut.

If you win on the Chestnut, like as not they'll just give you the winnin' mount.

"I'm afraid the Chestnut's a bad actor," Dixon said to Allis, after the race.

chestnut

Synonyms for chestnut

More words related to chestnut

anecdote

anecdotes

auburn

banality

bronze

brown