Search the Dictionary

It is thought to be of Chinese origin, and is counted a distinct species (Citrus nobilis)mandarin orange; tangerine. Mandarin duck (Zoöl.), a beautiful Asiatic duck (Dendronessa galericulata), often domesticated, and regarded by the Chinese as an emblem of conjugal affection. -- Mandarin language, the spoken or collo…

The collective body of officials or persons of rank in China. S. W. Williams.

Appropriate or peculiar to a mandarin.

The process of giving an orange color to goods formed of animal tissue, as silk or wool, not by coloring matter, but by producing a certain change in the fiber by the action of dilute nitric acid. Tomlinson.

A government mandarins; character or spirit of the mandarins. F. Lieder.

Tea; -- the Chinese (Mandarin) name, used generally in early works of travel, and now for a kind of rolled tea used in Central Asia.

The prostration made by mandarins and others to their superiors, either as homage or worship, by knocking the forehead on the ground. There are degrees in the rite, the highest being expressed by three knockings. [China]kowtow S. W. Williams.

The color of an orange; reddish yellow. Mandarin orange. See Mandarin. -- Mock orange (Bot.), any species of shrubs of the genus Philadelphus, which have whitish and often fragrant blossoms. -- Native orange, or Orange thorn (Bot.), an Australian shrub (Citriobatus parviflorus); also, its edible yellow berries. -- O…

A kind of orange, much like the mandarin, but of deeper color and higher flavor. It is said to have been produced in America from the mandarin. [Written also tangierine.]

employs a classical or academic diction, and a more condensed and sententious style than Mandarin, and differs also in the doubling and arrangement of words.

In China, the official headquarters or residence of a mandarin, including court rooms, offices, gardens, prisons, etc.; the place where the business of any public department is transcated.