chesterfield

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noun

A couch, sofa, or love seat with padded arms and back of the same height, often curved outward at the top.

Less commonScrabble 21

Meanings

chesterfield1

nounchesterfield (plural chesterfields)

plural chesterfields

  1. A couch, sofa, or love seat with padded arms and back of the same height, often curved outward at the top.

    Around the table in the bay window, the slim, japanned dining chairs. The chesterfield suite, antimacassar-draped.

    1998, Derek Beaven, chapter 9, in Acts of Mutiny, London: Fourth Estate, →ISBN, part 1 (Motion), page 34
  2. CaliforniaCanadadatedAny couch or sofa.

Chesterfield2

Chesterfield3

nounChesterfield (plural Chesterfields)

plural Chesterfields

  1. datedAn extremely polite person.

    "The man-eatin' Papuans had me once, but they are Chesterfields compared to this crowd."

    1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC
    1 more example

    The White House attendants are Chesterfields of politeness, and the visitor must be aggressive and persistent indeed who is not kept within proper limits without having his sensibilities wounded.

    1901, Mrs. John A. Logan, Thirty Years in Washington, page 141

Origin

chesterfield · noun

From Chesterfield. Named after Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield (1694–1773), who commissioned the first such couch.

Full word history & related roots →

Chesterfield · noun

In reference to Lord Chesterfield, author of Principles of Politeness and of Knowing the World, 1786.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

chesterfield. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/chesterfield

MLA

“chesterfield.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/chesterfield. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “chesterfield,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/chesterfield.

Source: chesterfield on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.