china (china)

[Short for chinaware, where china is the European name ( China ) of the country (called by its own people Chung Kwoh, the Middle Kingdom or Country, or Chung Hwa Kwoh, the Central Flowery Country) used attributively. Cf. Sp. china, chinaware, China silk, china-root; Hind. Pers. chin i, china.] The common name of porcelain and of porcelain-ware. See porcelain. - Blue china, specifically, Chinese porcelain decorated with blue laid on the paste before the glazing. Also called Nankin porcelain and blue and white. See porcelain.- Clobbered china. See clobber. (-men). [ china ( ware ) + man .] A manufac turer of china. For some time the manufactory was succe ful and em ployed 300 hands; but before long one of the partners died, and the survivor, "John Crowther, chinaman," was gazetted bankrupt in 1763, and the whole stock was sold off. Encyc. Brit., XIX. 641. chinaman's-hat (chi'nä-manz-hat), n. A collectors' name for a shell of the family Calyptræ idæ, Calyptræa sinensis. chinampa (chi-nam'pä), n. [Mex.] The native name of the floating gardens once common on the Mexican lakes. They were carefully constructed rafts covered with earth, on which plants were cultivated. Chinampas or floating gardens of mud heaped on rafts of reeds and brush, which in later times were so remarkable a feature of Mexico. E. B. Tylor , Encyc. Brit., XVI. 209. chinar (chi-när'), n . Same as chinar-tree. china-root (chi'nä-röt), n. 1. The root or rhizome of the Smilax China , a climbing shrubby plant, a native of eastern India, China, and Japan. It is closely allied to sarsaparilla, and was formerly much esteemed for the purposes for which the latter drug is now used. The tuberous roots of several species of smilax of the United States and tropical America have been used as a substitute, and are sometimes called American or bastard china -root. In Jamaica the name is IMG:content-0294.png:[blocks in formation] Ovulum . Moore , Lalla Rookh, Ded.