japan
Noun · VerbOpen English WordNet
Noun (4)
- a string of more than 3,000 islands to the east of Asia extending 1,300 miles between the Sea of Japan and the western Pacific OceanSynonyms: Japanese IslandsJapanese ArchipelagoInstance of archipelagoPart of Pacific, Pacific OceanParts Shikoku, Osaka Bay, Kyushu, Honshu, Hokkaido
- a constitutional monarchy occupying the Japanese Archipelago; a world leader in electronics and automobile manufacture and ship buildingSynonyms: NipponNihonInstance of Asian country, Asian nationPart of AsiaParts Tokyo, Sapporo, Toyonaka, Naha City, Nagasaki, Omiya, Toyohashi, Ryukyu Islands +14 moreMembers Japanese, Nipponese
- lacquerware decorated and varnished in the Japanese manner with a glossy durable black lacquerType of lacquerware
- lacquer with a durable glossy black finish, originally from the orientType of lacquer
Verb (1)japanned, japanning
- coat with a lacquer, as done in JapanMore general lacquer
What does it mean? Question 1 of today’s quiz
Webster's Dictionary (1913)
Origin: From Japan, the country.
Work varnished and figured in the Japanese manner; also, the varnish or lacquer used in japanning.
Of or pertaining to Japan, or to the lacquered work of that country; as, Japan ware.
Japan allspice Botany, a spiny shrub from Japan (Chimonanthus fragrans), related to the Carolina allspice. — Japan black Chemistry, a quickly drying black lacquer or varnish, consisting essentially of asphaltum dissolved in naphtha or turpentine, and used for coating ironwork; — called also Brunswick black, Japan lacquer, or simply Japan. — Japan camphor, ordinary camphor brought from China or Japan, as distinguished from the rare variety called borneol or Borneo camphor. — Japan clover, or Japan pea Botany, a cloverlike plant (Lespedeza striata) from Eastern Asia, useful for fodder, first noticed in the Southern United States about 1860, but now become very common. During the Civil War it was called variously Yankee clover and Rebel clover. — Japan earth. See Catechu. — Japan ink, a kind of writing ink, of a deep, glossy black when dry. — Japan varnish, a varnish prepared from the milky juice of the Rhus vernix, a small Japanese tree related to the poison sumac.
1. To cover with a coat of hard, brilliant varnish, in the manner of the Japanese; to lacquer.
2. To give a glossy black to, as shoes. rare John Gay
Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), from GCIDE 0.54