subs. (military).—The Ninety-seventh Regiment of Foot. [So nicknamed from its facings of sky blue.]
1856. Notes and Queries, 2 S., ii., p. 215. The 97th too is not mentioned by your correspondents as far as I have seen, the CELESTIALS.
1871. Chambers’s Journal, Dec. 23, p. 801. ‘CELESTIALS’—the facings of the … corps being sky blue.
2. sing. (common).—A ‘turn-up’ or ‘pug’ nose. For synonyms, see CONK.
3. (colloquial).—The Chinese. The Chinese Empire is spoken of as the Celestial Empire.
