Your ShelfYour Projects
Webster's Dictionary (1865)

2 entries under this word

Japan

Ja-pān', n. or Ja-pān', a., n.

noun

[From the country in Asia so called.] Work varnished and figured in the manner practiced by the natives of Japan; also, the peculiar varnish or lacquer used in japanning metallic or other articles.

Ja-pān', a. Of, or pertaining to, Japan, or to the peculiar lacquered work of that country.

Japan earth. See CATECHU.—Japan ink, a kind of writing ink, which, when dry, has a glossy appearance and deep black color.—Japan lacquer, a hard, black varnish or lacquer used in japanning, obtained from the Stagmaria verniciflua of the East Indian archipelago. Lindley.

Ja-păn', v. t.

verbtransitive

[imp. & p. p. JAPANNED; p. pr. & vb. n. JAPANNING.]

  1. To cover with a thick coat of hard, brilliant varnish, in the manner of the Japanese.
  2. To black and gloss, as in blacking shoes or boots.

Japanned leather, a sort of enameled or varnished leather, prepared with several coatings of a kind of japan rubbed in with the hand, and then dried in a stove. Simmonds.