japan definition | Dictionary.com

ja⋅pan

[

juh-pan]

noun, adjective, verb, -panned, -pan⋅ning.

–noun

1.	any of various hard, durable, black varnishes, originally from Japan, for coating wood, metal, or other surfaces.

2.	work varnished and figured in the Japanese manner.

3.	Japans, a variety of decorative motifs or patterns derived from Oriental sources, used on English porcelain of the 18th and 19th centuries.

–adjective

4.	of or pertaining to japan.

–verb (used with object)

5.	to varnish with japan; lacquer.

6.	to coat with any material that gives a hard, black gloss.

Origin:
1605–15; special use of Japan

Related forms:

ja⋅pan⋅ner, noun

Ja⋅pan

[

juh-pan]

–noun

1.	a constitutional monarchy on a chain of islands off the E coast of Asia: main islands, Hokkaido, Honshu, Kyushu, and Shikoku. 125,716,637; 141,529 sq. mi. (366,560 sq. km). Capital: Tokyo. Japanese, Nihon, Nippon.

2.	Sea of, the part of the Pacific Ocean between Japan and mainland Asia.

Japan.

Japanese.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Link To japan

ja·pan (jə-pān')

A black enamel or lacquer used to produce a durable glossy finish.
An object decorated with this substance.

tr.v. ja·panned, ja·pan·ning, ja·pans

To decorate with a black enamel or lacquer.
To coat with a glossy finish.

[After Japan.]

Ja·pan (jə-pān')

(click for larger image in new window)
A country of Asia on an archipelago off the northeast coast of the mainland. Traditionally settled c. 660 B.C., Japan's written history began in the 5th century A.D. During the feudal period (12th-19th century) real power was held by the shoguns, whose dominance was finally ended by the restoration of the emperor Mutsuhito in 1868. Feudalism was abolished, and the country was opened to Western trade and industrial technology. Expansionist policies led to Japan's participation in World War II, which ended after atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki (August 1945). Today the country is highly industrialized and noted for its advanced technology. Tokyo is the capital and the largest city. Population: 127,000,000.

Word History: Stamp collectors know that Nihon and Nippon on Japanese stamps mean "Japan"; what they probably don't know is that Nihon, Nippon, and Japan are all ultimately the same word. In the early part of the Chinese Tang dynasty—in A.D. 670, to be precise—Japanese scholars who had studied Chinese created a new name for their country using the Chinese phrase for "origin of the sun, sunrise," because Japan is located east of China. In the Chinese of the time (called Middle Chinese), the phrase was nzyet-pwun. To this the scholars added the Chinese suffix -kwuk, "country," yielding a compound nzyet-pwun-kwuk, "sun-origin-country, land of the rising sun." The consonant clusters in the word were not pronounceable in Old Japanese, so the form was simplified to Nip-pon-gu or *Ni-pon-gu, the latter developing by regular sound change to Ni-hon-gu. The forms Nippon and Nihon of today are the same as these, minus the "country" suffix. Interestingly, the Chinese themselves took to calling Japan by the name that the Japanese had invented, and it is from the Chinese version of the name that English Japan is ultimately derived. In Mandarin Chinese, one of the forms of Chinese to develop from Middle Chinese, the phrase evolved to Rìběnguó, an early form of which was recorded by Marco Polo as Chipangu, which he would have pronounced as (chĭ-pän-gōō) or (shĭ-pän-gōō). The early Mandarin word was borrowed into Malay as Japang, which was encountered by Portuguese traders in Moluccas in the 16th century. These traders may have been the ones to bring the word to Europe; it is first recorded in English in 1577, spelled Giapan.

Japan, Sea of or East Sea
An enclosed arm of the western Pacific Ocean between Japan and the Asian mainland. Several straits connect it with the East China Sea, the Pacific Ocean, and the Sea of Okhotsk.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Japan

Ja*pan"\, n. [From Japan, the country.] Work varnished and figured in the Japanese manner; also, the varnish or lacquer used in japanning.

Japan

Ja*pan"\, a. Of or pertaining to Japan, or to the lacquered work of that country; as, Japan ware.

Japan allspice (Bot.), a spiny shrub from Japan (Chimonanthus fragrans), related to the Carolina allspice.

Japan black (Chem.), 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 (Bot.), 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.

Japan

Ja*pan"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Japanned; p. pr. & vb. n. Japanning.]

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. [R.] --Gay.

Japan

Island nation in the northwest Pacific Ocean off the coast of east Asia, separated by the Sea of Japan from Russian Siberia, China, and Korea. The Japanese archipelago includes four major islands (Hokkaido, Honshu, Kyushu, and Shikoku) as well as many smaller islands. Its capital and largest city is Tokyo.

Note: Called the “Land of the Rising Sun,” Japan is symbolized by a red sun on a white background.

Note: Another symbol of Japan is Fujiyama, also called Mount Fuji, a volcano whose symmetrical snow-capped peak has been the object of countless pilgrimages, poems, and paintings. It has not erupted since 1707.

Note: Imperial Japan was organized on a feudal system (see feudalism), characterized by the samurai (the warrior class, which eventually became landed gentry) and the shogun (the hereditary administrative leader). The emperor, believed to be divine, was the ceremonial leader. Japan is a constitutional monarchy today.

Note: Japan's ports were first opened to Western traders in the sixteenth century but were closed in the seventeenth century. Japan remained in virtual isolation until the 1850s, when an American naval officer, Matthew C. Perry, persuaded the government to reopen trade with the West.

Note: Suffering from overcrowding, lack of natural resources, and the influence of powerful military factions, Japan pursued an aggressive policy of expansion in China during the 1930s, ultimately resulting in a military alliance with Germany and Italy to form the Axis powers in World War II. (See also Hiroshima, Pearl Harbor, and Douglas MacArthur.)

Note: Although a world leader in shipbuilding, electronics, and automobile manufacture, Japan's economy suffered a severe slump during the 1990s.

Japan

1577, via Port. Japao, Du. Japan, acquired in Malacca from Malay Japang, from Chinese jih pun "sunrise" (equivalent of Japanese Nippon), from jih "sun" + pun "origin." Earliest form in Europe was Marco Polo's Chipangu. Colloquial abbreviation Jap is from 1880, not originally pejorative but became so during World War II. Cultural contact led to japaning "coat with laquer or varnish" (1688), along with japonaiserie (1896, from Fr.), japonica (1819, from variant Japon), etc. Japanese beetle attested from 1919, accidentally introduced in U.S. 1916 in larval stage in a shipment of Japanese iris. Japlish "Japanese with many Eng. words" is from 1960.

japan

any of a class of oil varnishes in which bitumen (a mixture of asphaltlike hydrocarbons) replaces the natural gums or resins used as hardeners in clear varnish. Black varnish is widely used as a protective coating for interior and exterior ironwork such as pipework, tanks, stoves, roofing, and marine accessories. The bitumen forms a protective barrier against atmospheric corrosion. Bitumens used include petroleum bitumen; natural asphalts, such as uintaite; and pitches, as from coal tar.

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Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
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