Joss (?), n. [Chinese, corrupt. fr. Pg. deos God, L. deus.]

A Chinese household divinity; a Chinese idol.

"Critic in jars and josses."

Colman (1761).

Joss house, a Chinese temple or house for the Chinese mode of worship. -- Joss stick, a reed covered with a paste made of the dust of odoriferous woods, or a cylinder made wholly of the paste; -- burned by the Chinese before an idol.

 

© Webster 1913.

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