nankeen noun & adjective. [naŋ'ki:n, nan-] Also nankin [-kɪn], Nankeen. M18.
[from Nankin(g) in China.]
A. noun.
1. A kind of pale yellowish cotton cloth, orig. made from a yellow variety of cotton but now usu. dyed. Also nankeen cloth. M18.
b. A kind or variety of this cloth. L18.
c. In pl. Trousers made of nankeen. E19.

2. The colour of nankeen; a pale yellowish buff. L18.

3. a. (Usu. Nankeen.) In full Nankeen porcelain, Nankeen ware, etc. A kind of usu. blue and white Chinese porcelain. M18.
b. = blonde lace s.v. BLOND adjective. M19.
b. attrib. or as adjective. Made of nankeen; of the pale yellowish-buff colour of nankeen. L18.
Comb. & special collocations: nankeen cloth: see sense 1 above; nankeen cotton the variety of cotton from which nankeen cloth was originally made; nankeen hawk = nankeen kestrel below; nankeen heron = nankeen night heron below; nankeen kestrel a small Australasian falcon, Falco cenchroides; nankeen night heron a nocturnal heron, Nycticorax caledonicus, of Australia and the SW Pacific islands.

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