old chestnut

Idioms  

1. A stale joke, story, or saying, as in Dad keeps on telling that old chestnut about how many psychiatrists it takes to change a light bulb. This expression comes from William Dimond's play, The Broken Sword (1816), in which one character keeps repeating the same stories, one of them about a cork tree, and is interrupted each time by another character who says “Chestnut, you mean . . . I have heard you tell the joke twenty-seven times and I am sure it was a chestnut.”

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Example Sentences

Investors are returning from the long weekend with some optimism as that old chestnut — hopes for an Iran peace pact — is helping push bond yields lower and stock futures higher.

From MarketWatch • May 26, 2026

Steven Skybell, magnificent in the role of the besieged patriarch, led a superb cast that brought a new understanding to an old chestnut through the force of Yiddish language and culture.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 9, 2025

Consider the old chestnut, “All Greeks are mortal, Socrates is Greek, therefore Socrates is mortal.”

From Salon • Jul. 29, 2024

This is an old chestnut, but keeping your door open can help to make you look approachable.

From BBC • Sep. 13, 2021

After dinner he would lean back against the base of an old chestnut oak, put his hands under his head, and watch the aerie.

From "Frightful's Mountain" by Jean Craighead George

Related Words

• episode
• gag
• narration
• narrative
• reminiscence
• short story
• sketch
• tale
• tall tale
• yarn