Also 8 japon. [f. prec., sense 2.]
1. trans. To lacquer with japan; to varnish with any material that gives a hard black gloss.
1688. G. Parker & J. Stalker (title), A Treatise of Japaning and Varnishing. Ibid., xii. 35. They may be Japanned, and look well.
1697. Dampier, Voy. (1729), I. 400. Laquer which is used in Japanning of Cabinets.
1762. Goldsm., Cit. W., lv. A square table that had been once japanned.
1816. J. Smith, Panorama Sci. & Art, II. 37. Made of copper, or tinned iron plates japanned within and without.
2. transf. To make black and glossy as in japanning; to polish or cover with black.
1714. [see JAPANNING vbl. sb.].
1730[?]. Royal Remarks, 7. ‘Dear Jack’ has exhausted his splendid Shilling, and now cries ‘Japan your shoes, your Honour.’
1812. W. Combe, Dr. Syntax, X. ix. His gaiters, too, were fresh japann’d.
1818. Scott, Rob Roy, v. The monsters of heraldry … grinned and ramped in red freestone, now japanned by the smoke of centuries.
1865. Carlyle, Fredk. Gt., XIX. viii. (1873), VIII. 265. Japanning people with pitch to cure them of every malady.
3. slang. To make clerical, to ordain. (With reference to the black coat.)
1756. Connoisseur, No. 105, ¶ 3. He had been double-japanned (as he called it) about a year ago, and was the present incumbent of —.
1796. Grose, Dict. Vulg. T., s.v.
1826. Sporting Mag., XVIII. 283. My friend’s son had just been ordained Deacon, or, in the language of the day, ‘japanned.’
1879. J. Payn, High Spirits, II. 106. He had passed his ‘voluntary,’ and was to be ‘japanned’ in a fortnight.
