(old) chestnut Idiom
chestnut
old favorite song, well-known story Moira played the piano, and we sang old songs - old chestnuts.
Old chestnut
An old chestnut is something that has been repeated so many times that it has lost its impact.
pull one's chestnuts out of the fire|chestnut|ches
To do someone else a great favor which they don't really deserve, doing oneself a disfavor in the process.
Small countries often have to pull the chestnuts out of the fire for their more powerful neighbors.(old) chestnut
A topic, saying, or antic that has been again so abundant that it has become arid or irksome. Whether there's accuracy in it or not, I can't angle that old chestnut "follow your heart."Learn more: chestnutold chestnut
A dried joke, story, or saying, as in Dad keeps on cogent that old chestnut about how abounding psychiatrists it takes to change a ablaze ball . This announcement comes from William Dimond's play, The Broken Sword (1816), in which one appearance keeps repeating the aforementioned stories, one of them about a cork tree, and is disconnected anniversary time by addition appearance who says "Chestnut, you beggarly . . . I accept heard you acquaint the antic twenty-seven times and I am abiding it was a chestnut." Learn more: chestnut, oldan old chestnut
or a age-old old chestnut
mainly BRITISHCOMMON If you call article that is said or accounting as an old chestnut or a age-old old chestnut, you beggarly that it has been again so generally that it is no best interesting. Finally, how do you acknowledgment that old account chestnut: `Why should I appoint you?' The blur is based on the age-old old chestnut of acceptable twin/bad twin, afar at birth, final baleful affair — you get the idea.Learn more: chestnut, oldan old chestnut
a joke, story, or accountable that has become annoying and arid as a aftereffect of its age and connected repetition. The best acceptable antecedent for this faculty of chestnut is in the afterward barter amid two characters, Zavior and Pablo, in William Dimond 's comedy Broken Sword ( 1816 ): ZAVIOR…When aback from the blubbery boughs of a cork tree— PABLO. (Jumping up) A chesnut, Captain, a chesnut…Captain, this is the twenty-seventh time I accept heard you chronicle this story, and you consistently said, a chesnut, until now.Learn more: chestnut, oldold chestnut
A dried joke, anecdote, or adage. This appellation has a specific source, the comedy The Broken Sword by William Dimond, aboriginal produced in 1816. The arch character, a Captain Xavier, consistently repeats the aforementioned stories, one of which involves a cork tree. Pablo, addition character, interrupts, saying, “Chestnut, you mean, captain. I accept heard you acquaint the antic twenty-seven times, and I am abiding it was a chestnut.” The comedy has continued back been forgotten, but the appellation survives, and has itself become an old chestnut.Learn more: chestnut, old