joss stick

American  

noun

1. a slender stick of a dried, fragrant paste, burned by the Chinese as incense before a joss.

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joss stick British  

noun

1. a stick of dried perfumed paste, giving off a fragrant odour when burnt as incense

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Etymology

Origin of joss stick

First recorded in 1880–85

Example Sentences

At one end of the living room of a Formosan cottage, incense from a burning joss stick rose fragrantly before an image of Buddha.

From Time Magazine Archive

Hwei went to the shrine and brought forth a joss stick.

From The Mandarin's Fan by Hume, Fergus

If at dark we twirl a glowing joss stick in a circle, we do not see one point moving from place to place, but we see a continuous circular line.

From The Photoplay A Psychological Study by Münsterberg, Hugo

"Evidently he is not acquainted with the peculiar smell of a joss stick."

From Number Seventeen by Tracy, Louis

A muttered "I understand—perfectly," showed this, and he did not strive to conceal the alarm which possessed him when Theydon spoke of the joss stick.

From Number Seventeen by Tracy, Louis