conker |ˈkäNGkər| nounBrit. the hard shiny dark brown nut of a horse chestnut tree.• (conkers) [ treated as sing. ] a children's game in which each child has a conker on the end of a string and takes turns trying to break another's with it.
I Had no idea conker was another name for horse chestnut until I came across "dead rat conkers" reading Terry Pratchett. I missed these guys from the old country–when I was growing up they were everywhere. The trees lined majors streets, their cones of white flowers signaling spring, and their seeds littering parks and sidewalks in the autumn. When the spiky pods open the seeds that emerge are warm brown and shiny–irresistible for small children. Unfortunately, the shine dulls within a few days.
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