Definition of "china"

china

/ˈt͡ʃaɪnə/

noun
countable and uncountable, plural chinas
1. (uncountable) 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.
2. (uncountable) Chinaware: porcelain tableware.
  Quotations
  They sell Callicoes, Cheney Sattin, Cheney ware.
  1634, Thomas Herbert, A Relation of Some Yeares Trauaile, Begunne Anno 1626. into Afrique and the Greater Asia, page 41
  ...a Present of certain very rich Pieces of China.
  1653, Henry Cogan translating Fernão Mendes Pinto as The Voyages and Adventures of Fernand Mendez Pinto, p. 206
3. (uncountable, chiefly US, dated) Cheaper and lower-quality ceramic and ceramic tableware, distinguished from porcelain.
  Quotations
  What is porcelain? A fine earthenware differing from china in being harder, whiter, harder to fuse and more translucent than ordinary pottery.
  1921 May 11, “Edison Questions Stir Up a Storm”, in New York Times
4. (uncountable) Synonym of China root, the root of Smilax china (particularly) as a medicine.
  Quotations
  China, saith Manardus, makes a good colour in the face, takes away melancholy, and all infirmities proceeding from cold […].
  1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed by John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, partition II, section 5, member 1, subsection v
5. (uncountable, obsolete) Synonym of cheyney: worsted or woolen stuff.
  Quotations
  ...And then the last boon I'll implore,Is to bless us with China so tight...
  1790, Alexander Wilson, Poems, page 55
6. (countable) Synonym of China rose, in its various senses.
  Quotations
  Rosa indica (the common China); Rosa semperflorens (the monthly China).
  1844, Jane Loudon, The Ladies' Companion to the Flower Garden, 3rd edition, page 344
7. (countable, Cockney rhyming slang, Australia, South Africa) Synonym of mate (rhyme of china-plate).
  Quotations
  ‘Now, then, my china-plate...’ This is essentially a brick~layer's phrase. If for ‘china-plate’ you substitute ‘mate’, […] the puzzle is revealed.
  1880, Daniel William Barrett, Life and Work among the Navvies, 2nd edition, page 41
  China, or Old China: chum.
  1925, Edward Fraser et al., Soldier and Sailor Words and Phrases, page 53
8. (uncountable, dated) Tea from China, (particularly) varieties cured by smoking or opposed to Indian cultivars.
  Quotations
  Tea... Finest China, Plain (Moning).
  1907, Yesterday's Shopping, page 1
9. (countable, games, chiefly US, obsolete) A glazed china marble.
  Quotations
  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.
  1932 March, Dan Beard, “New-Fashioned Kites and Old-Fashioned Marbles”, in Boys' Life, page 27
10. (countable, music) A kind of drum cymbal approximating a Chinese style of cymbal, but usually with Turkish influences.
  Quotations
  China cymbals are a type of short sound cymbal. [Brand X] makes chinas with really short sounds.
  2010, Carmine Appice, Drums for Everyone, page 78

Definition of "china"

china

noun

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