Also kilin. [ad. Chinese ch‘i-lin (Wade), f. ch’i male + lin female.] A fabulous animal of composite form, commonly figured on Chinese and Japanese pottery.
‘According to the Erh Ya, it has the body of a deer, the tail of an ox, and a single horn, from which it is often called the Chinese Unicorn’ (Mayers’ Chinese Reader’s Man., Shanghai, 1874, 127).
1857. Marryatt, Pottery & Porcel. (ed. 2), 217. Dragons, kylins, and all manner of hideous and strange monsters.
1894. Times, 26 Jan., 11/3. Sale of General Gordon’s Chinese Objects of Art…. A vase and cover, of rock crystal, with pierced dragon handles, kylin on the cover…. A small cup, the handle carved as a kylin.
1898. Daily News, 14 Dec., 8/4. A piece of old Satsuma, representing a kylin playing with a ball and cord.
