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

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

joss stick

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

"It is odd, too, that you and the detectives should have noticed the smell of a joss stick in the flat," went on Miss Beale.

From Number Seventeen by Louis Tracy

Bates and I will take care that there isn't even a joss stick in the flat before we go to bed.

From Number Seventeen by Louis Tracy

They'll be in here before you can light a joss stick.

From The Gray Mask by Wadsworth Camp

Got some signal, you bet!" said the driver; "some yeller paper or piece o' joss stick in the road.

From From Sand Hill to Pine by Bret Harte

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