Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Porcelain

Por′ce·lain, n. (Bot.) Purslain. [Obs.]

Por′ce·lain, n. [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.] 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.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty. Of the others, 1,362 (a word or a single letter each) were inferred by AI from the context by the dictionary’s own rules and are marked with a wavy underline (tap or point at one to see the note); the rest, which could not be inferred with confidence, are left as “?”.