china
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈt͡ʃaɪnə/
ipa: /ˈt͡ʃeːni/
ipa: /ˈt͡ʃiːni/
rhymes: -aɪnə
Forms: form: chinas
form: China
form: chiney
form: cheny
form: cheney
form: chenea
form: chainy
form: chaney
form: chany
form: chaynee
form: chayney
form: cheenie
form: cheeny
form: chainé
Etymology: From clippings of attributive use of China, q.v., the country in East Asia. In reference to porcelain and porcelain objects, via clipping of chinaware and via this sense of Persian چینی (čīnī /čini) in Persia and India, which influenced the pronunciation (see below). In reference to medicine, via clipping of China root. In reference to flowers, via clipping of China rose. In reference to tea, via clipping of China tea. In Cockney slang, a clipping of china plate as a rhyme of mate (“friend”). In reference to drum cymbals, a clipping of China cymbal and as a genericization of a kind of Zildjian-brand cymbal.
Senses: examples: text: It's a china doll.
glosses: Synonym of porcelain, a hard white translucent ceramic made from kaolin, now (chiefly US) sometimes distinguished in reference to tableware as fine or good china.
synonyms: word: porcelain
extra: a hard white translucent ceramic made from kaolin, now (chiefly US) sometimes distinguished in reference to tableware as fine or good china
examples: text: They sell Callicoes, Cheney Sattin, Cheney ware.
ref: 1634, Thomas Herbert, A Relation of Some Yeares Trauaile, Begunne Anno 1626. into Afrique and the Greater Asia, page 41:
text: ...a Present of certain very rich Pieces of China.
ref: 1653, Henry Cogan translating Fernão Mendes Pinto as The Voyages and Adventures of Fernand Mendez Pinto, p. 206
text: He set the table with china, cloth napkins, and crystal stemware.
text: The traditional 20th anniversary gift is china.
glosses: Chinaware: porcelain tableware.
examples: text: What is porcelain? A fine earthenware differing from china in being harder, whiter, harder to fuse and more translucent than ordinary pottery.
ref: 1921 May 11, “Edison Questions Stir Up a Storm”, in New York Times:
glosses: Cheaper and lower-quality ceramic and ceramic tableware, distinguished from porcelain.
examples: text: China, saith Manardus, makes a good colour in the face, takes away melancholy, and all infirmities proceeding from cold […].
ref: 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition II, section 5, member 1, subsection v:
glosses: Synonym of China root, the root of Smilax china (particularly) as a medicine.
synonyms: word: China root
extra: the root of Smilax china (particularly) as a medicine
examples: text: ...And then the last boon I'll implore,
Is to bless us with China so tight...
ref: 1790, Alexander Wilson, Poems, page 55:
glosses: Synonym of cheyney: worsted or woolen stuff.
synonyms: word: cheyney
extra: worsted or woolen stuff
examples: text: Rosa indica (the common China); Rosa semperflorens (the monthly China).
ref: 1844, Jane Loudon, The Ladies' Companion to the Flower Garden, 3rd edition, page 344:
glosses: Synonym of China rose, in its various senses.
synonyms: word: China rose
extra: in its various senses
examples: text: All right, me old china?
text: ‘Now, then, my china-plate...’ This is essentially a brick~layer's phrase. If for ‘china-plate’ you substitute ‘mate’,[…] the puzzle is revealed.
ref: 1880, Daniel William Barrett, Life and Work among the Navvies, 2nd edition, page 41:
text: China, or Old China: chum.
ref: 1925, Edward Fraser et al., Soldier and Sailor Words and Phrases, page 53:
glosses: Synonym of mate (rhyme of china-plate).
synonyms: word: mate
extra: rhyme of china-plate
examples: text: Tea... Finest China, Plain (Moning).
ref: 1907, Yesterday's Shopping, page 1:
glosses: Tea from China, (particularly) varieties cured by smoking or opposed to Indian cultivars.
examples: text: The marbles, in those days, had their primitive names. The unglazed china ones were called plasters because they looked like plaster; the glazed china marbles were called chinas. I remember how charming were the partly colored lines which encircled them.
ref: 1932 March, Dan Beard, “New-Fashioned Kites and Old-Fashioned Marbles”, in Boys' Life, page 27:
topics: games
glosses: A glazed china marble.
examples: text: China cymbals are a type of short sound cymbal. [Brand X] makes chinas with really short sounds.
ref: 2010, Carmine Appice, Drums for Everyone, page 78:
topics: entertainment
lifestyle
music
glosses: A kind of drum cymbal approximating a Chinese style of cymbal, but usually with Turkish influences.
Derived terms: bone china
bull in a china shop
china-blue
china blue
china cabinet
china clay
china-closet
china doll
china eye
china-fancier
china-glaze
china-house
china-hunter
china-like
chinalike
china mark
china marker
china money
china-oven
china-painting
china-paints
china pencil
china-shell
china-shop
china-stone
china-tipper
china token
china wedding
pseudochina