Adjacent Words

China tree definitions

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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: evergreen of tropical America having pulpy fruit containing saponin which was used as soap by Native Americans [syn: China tree, false dogwood, jaboncillo, chinaberry, Sapindus saponaria]
2: tree of northern India and China having purple blossoms and small inedible yellow fruits; naturalized in the southern United States as a shade tree [syn: chinaberry, chinaberry tree, China tree, Persian lilac, pride-of-India, azederach, azedarach, Melia azederach, Melia azedarach]

Merriam Webster's

noun Date: 1819 chinaberry

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

China Chi"na, n. 1. A country in Eastern Asia. 2. China ware, which is the modern popular term for porcelain. See Porcelain. China aster (Bot.), a well-known garden flower and plant. See Aster. China bean. See under Bean, 1. China clay See Kaolin. China grass, Same as Ramie. China ink. See India ink. China pink (Bot.), an anual or biennial species of Dianthus (D. Chiensis) having variously colored single or double flowers; Indian pink. China root (Med.), the rootstock of a species of Smilax (S. China, from the East Indies; -- formerly much esteemed for the purposes that sarsaparilla is now used for. Also the galanga root (from Alpinia Gallanga and Alpinia officinarum). China rose. (Bot.) (a) A popular name for several free-blooming varieties of rose derived from the Rosa Indica, and perhaps other species. (b) A flowering hothouse plant (Hibiscus Rosa-Sinensis) of the Mallow family, common in the gardens of China and the east Indies. China shop, a shop or store for the sale of China ware or of crockery. China ware, porcelain; -- so called in the 17th century because brought from the far East, and differing from the pottery made in Europe at that time; also, loosely, crockery in general. Pride of China, China tree. (Bot.) See Azedarach.