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joss stick

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noun

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

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Origin of joss stick

First recorded in 1880–85
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for joss stick

Historical Examples of joss stick

  • There's always a little bit of it smouldering in my heart like a joss-stick.

    Arundel

    Edward Frederic Benson

  • Joss-stick, a stick composed of fragrant gum, etc., burnt as incense.

  • Somebody lighted a Chinese joss-stick, perhaps to kill the aroma of defunct cigarettes.

    Iole

    Robert W. Chambers

  • Sometimes he would burn a joss-stick beneath its branches and kneel down and pray.

    Myths & Legends of Japan

    F. Hadland (Frederick Hadland) Davis

  • She then returned with the joss-stick in her hand, and gave it to her husband, who was kneeling on the hearth-rug.

British Dictionary definitions for joss stick

joss stick

noun

a stick of dried perfumed paste, giving off a fragrant odour when burnt as incense
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012