n. Any Chinese official, civil or military, who wears a. button. (See button, 3.) The Chinese equivalent is kwan, which means simply ‘public servant.’n. [capitalized] The form of Chinese spoken (with slight variations) in the northern, central, and western provinces of China, as well as Manchuria, and by officials and educated persons all over the empire, as distinguished from the local dialects spoken chiefly in the southern provinces, and form the book-language, which appeals only to the eye.n. in ornithology, the mandarin duck (which see, under duck).n. A piece of mandarin porcelain.n. A coal-tar color used in dyeing, produced from beta-naphthol. It dyes a bright reddish-orange shade. Also called tropœlin and orange No. 2.Pertaining or suitable to a mandarin or to mandarins; hence, of exalted character or quality; superior; noble; fine.In dyeing, to give an orange-color to, as silk or other stuffs made of animal fiber, not by means of a solution of coloring matter, but by the action of dilute nitric acid. The orange-color is produced by a partial decomposition of the surface of the fiber by the acid.n. Same as mandarin orange (which see, under orange).