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

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

From Number Seventeen by Tracy, Louis

For quite ten minutes Ainsleigh continued waving, until the joss stick burnt down nearly to the root.

From The Mandarin's Fan by Hume, Fergus

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

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