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Showing results for old chestnut. Search instead for oak+chestnut.
Synonyms

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.”

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

There was the old chestnut of a botched restart reception; there were forced passes and hesitant defence.

From BBC • Jul. 2, 2025

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

From Salon • Jul. 29, 2024

Hopefully those who welcome brave new interpretations of yesterday’s Broadway realize that one day “Hamilton” will be considered a creaky old chestnut in dire need of revision to remain relevant.

From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 23, 2022

The chapters alternate among the women, each one breathing new life into the old chestnut, “You never know what goes on behind closed doors.”

From New York Times • May 29, 2020

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

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.