ˈporcelain-clay
The clay used in the manufacture of porcelain; china-clay, kaolin. Also fig.
| 1690 Dryden Don Sebastian i. (1692) 7 This is the porcelain clay of humane kind. 1778 Woulfe in Phil. Trans. LXIX. 20 Such were the porcellane clay from Cornwall, the procellane clay from Saxony. 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. II. i. i, Pity⁓struck for the porcelain-clay of humanity rather than for the tile-clay. 1838 Lyell Elem. Geol. ii. (1874) 12 The purest clay found in nature is ‘porcelain’ clay or Kaolin, which results from the decomposition of a rock composed of felspar and quartz. |