‖n. [ L., we command, fr. mandare to command. ] (Law) A writ issued by a superior court and directed to some inferior tribunal, or to some corporation or person exercising authority, commanding the performance of some specified duty. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Pg. mandarim, from Malay mantrī minister of state, prop. a Hind. word, fr. Skr. mantrin a counselor, manira a counsel, man to think. ] 1. A Chinese public officer or nobleman; a civil or military official in China and Annam. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Hence: A powerful government official or bureaucrat, especially one who is pedantic and has a strong sense of his own importance and privelege. [ PJC ]

3. Hence: A member of an influential, powerful or elite group, espcially within artistic or intellectual circles; -- used especially of elder members who are traditionalist or conservative about their specialties. [ PJC ]

5. The form of the Chinese language spoken by members of the Chinese Imperial Court an officials of the empire. [ PJC ]

6. Any of several closely related dialects of the Chinese language spoken by a mojority of the population of China, the standard variety of which is spoken in the region around Beijing. [ PJC ]

7. (Bot.) A small flattish reddish-orange loose-skinned orange, with an easily separable rind. It is thought to be of Chinese origin, and is counted a distinct species (Citrus reticulata formerly Citrus nobilis); called also mandarin orange and tangerine. [ 1913 Webster ]

Mandarin language, the spoken or colloquial language of educated people in China. --
Mandarin yellow (Chem.), an artificial aniline dyestuff used for coloring silk and wool, and regarded as a complex derivative of quinoline. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The collective body of officials or persons of rank in China. S. W. Williams. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A showy crested Asiatic duck (Aix galericulata, formerly Dendronessa galericulata), often domesticated, and regarded by the Chinese as an emblem of conjugal affection. [ 1913 Webster + WordNet 1.5 ]

a. Appropriate or peculiar to a mandarin. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Dyeing) The process of giving an orange color to goods formed of animal tissue, as silk or wool, not by coloring matter, but by producing a certain change in the fiber by the action of dilute nitric acid. Tomlinson. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A government by mandarins (senses 1 or 2); character or spirit of the mandarins{ 2 }. F. Lieder. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. A shrub or small tree (Citrus reticulata) having flattened globose fruit with very sweet aromatic pulp and thin yellow-orange to flame-orange rind that is loose and easily removed; native to Southeast Asia.
Syn. -- mandarin orange tree. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

2. Same as mandarin{ 7 }. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. mandatarius, fr. mandatum a charge, commission, order: cf. F. mandataire. See Mandate. ] 1. One to whom a command or charge is given; hence, specifically, a person to whom the pope has, by his prerogative, given a mandate or order for his benefice. Ayliffe. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Law) One who undertakes to discharge a specific business commission; a mandatory. Wharton. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. mandatum, fr. mandare to commit to one's charge, order, orig., to put into one's hand; manus hand + dare to give: cf. F. mandat. See Manual, Date a time, and cf. Commend, Maundy Thursday. ] 1. An official or authoritative command, order, or authorization from a superior official to a subordinate; an order or injunction; a commission; a judicial precept. [ 1913 Webster ]

This dream all-powerful Juno; I bear
Her mighty mandates, and her words you hear. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Hence: (Politics) An authorization to carry out a specific public policy, given by the electorate to their representatives; -- it is considered to be implied by the election of a candidate by a significant margin after that candidate has campaigned with that policy as a prominent element of the campaign platform. [ PJC ]

3. Hence: Authorization by a multinational body to a nation to administer the government and affairs of a territory, usually a former colony; as, termination of the British mandate in Palestine. [ PJC ]

4. (Canon Law) A rescript of the pope, commanding an ordinary collator to put the person therein named in possession of the first vacant benefice in his collation. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. (Scots Law) A contract by which one employs another to manage any business for him. By the Roman law, it must have been gratuitous. Erskine. [ 1913 Webster ]