Horse`-chest"nut (?), n. (Bot.)
(a) The large nutlike seed of a species of
Æsculus (Æ. Hippocastanum), formerly
ground, and fed to horses, whence the name. (b)
The tree itself, which was brought from Constantinople in the
beginning of the sixteenth century, and is now common in the
temperate zones of both hemispheres. The native American species are
called buckeyes.