PORCELAIN
porcelain
(noun) ceramic ware made of a more or less translucent ceramic
Source: WordNet® 3.1
Etymology
Noun
porcelain (countable and uncountable, plural porcelains)
(usually, uncountable) A hard white translucent ceramic, originally made by firing kaolin, quartz, and feldspar at high temperatures but now also inclusive of similar artificial materials; also often (figurative) such a material as a symbol of the fragility, elegance, etc. traditionally associated with porcelain goods.
(usually, uncountable) synonym of china: porcelain tableware.
(uncountable, obsolete) synonym of kaolin: the kind of clay traditionally used in China to manufacture porcelain.
(countable, now usually plural) An object made of porcelain, (particularly) art objects or items of tableware.
(countable, now rare) synonym of cowrie.
(countable, obsolete or historic) synonym of wampum: strings of shells, beads, etc. used as ornamentation or currency; the composite shells, beads, etc.
(countable, often capitalized) A kind of pigeon with deep brown and off-white feathers.
Hypernyms
• material ceramic, earthenware
Hyponyms
• hard-paste, soft-paste / softpaste
Synonyms
• (all senses): china
• (porcelain tableware): chinaware
Source: Wiktionary
Por"ce*lain, n. (Bot.)
Definition: Purslain. [Obs.]
Por"ce*lain (277), n. Etym: [F. porcelaine, It. porcellana, orig.,
the porcelain shell, or Venus shell (Cypræa porcellana), from a dim.
fr. L. porcus pig, probably from the resemblance of the shell in
shape to a pig's back. Porcelain was called after this shell, either
on account of its smoothness and whiteness, or because it was
believed to be made from it. See Pork.]
Definition: A fine translucent or semitransculent kind of earthenware, made
first in China and Japan, but now also in Europe and America; --
called also China, or China ware.
Porcelain, by being pure, is apt to break. Dryden.
Ivory porcelain, porcelain with a surface like ivory, produced by
depolishing. See Depolishing.
– Porcelain clay. See under Clay.
– Porcelain crab (Zoöl.), any crab of the genus Porcellana and
allied genera (family Porcellanidæ). They have a smooth, polished
carapace.
– Porcelain jasper. (Min.) See Porcelanite.
– Porcelain printing, the transferring of an impression of an
engraving to porcelain.
– Porcelain shell (Zoöl.), a cowry.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition