cathay Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a communist nation that covers a vast territory in eastern Asia; the most populous country in the world
    PRC; Communist China; mainland China; Red China; China; People's Republic of China.

WordNet


Ca*thay" noun
Definitions
  1. China; -- an old name for the Celestial Empire, said have been introduced by Marco Polo and to be a corruption of the Tartar name for North China (Khitai, the country of the Khitans.)
    Better fifty years of Europe than a cycle of Cathay. Tennyson.

Webster 1913