Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The office or residence of an official in the Chinese Empire.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A common, but misleading, spelling of yamun. See yamun.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun In China, the official headquarters or residence of a mandarin, including court rooms, offices, gardens, prisons, etc.; the place where the business of any public department is transcated.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A residence of an official of the Chinese Empire.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Mandarin yámen, from Middle Chinese njaʽ mun : Middle Chinese njaʽ, magistracy, headquarters of a magistrate; akin to njaʽ, tooth, flag with a serrated edge planted outside an official's tent + Middle Chinese mun, gate.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Mandarin 衙门 (yámén).

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Examples

  • This was done and bodies of rebels guarded by troops marched past our door, with large bundles of guns and spears over their shoulders, and when they had deposited them at the yamen were allowed to return to their homes, the leaders alone having been retained.

    With the Tibetans in Tent and Temple: Narrative of Four Years' Residence on the Tibetan Borders, and of a Journey into the Far Interior 1901

  • With their barracks surrounded and the city gates closed to prevent their escape, soldiers from the artillery and engineering corps, who were secretly friendly to the rebels, mutinied and burned the yamen of the governor-general.

    The Last Empress Hannah Pakula 2009

  • The nearest yamen for reporting big crimes was in Jinti

    the secret sense Tan, Amy 1995

  • And what would the yamen official do when he heard that the foreigners had been robbed by their own kind?

    the secret sense Tan, Amy 1995

  • We were boozing in his yamen after luncheon, and he was telling me of Ward's latest exploit - a slap at another Taiping outpost, Chingpu, with three hundred men.

    Flashman and the Dragon Fraser, George MacDonald, 1925- 1985

  • We were boozing in his yamen after luncheon, and he was telling me of Ward's latest exploit - a slap at another Taiping outpost, Chingpu, with three hundred men.

    Flashman And The Dragon Fraser, George MacDonald, 1925- 1985

  • We were boozing in his yamen after luncheon, and he was telling me of Ward's latest exploit — a slap at another Taiping outpost, Chingpu, with three hundred men.

    Flashman and the Dragon Fraser, George MacDonald, 1925- 1985

  • The common belief that the eating of the grain by insects is a consequence of the covetousness of the yamen underlings is shown to be futile.

    Lunheng 1962

  • For two weeks Ida, with some other Chinese girls, was in hiding in the home of a friendly carpenter, while the missionaries were hidden in the governor's yamen.

    Notable Women of Modern China Margaret E. Burton

  • In order to make it easy for Shung whilst he was in prison, his mother had to spend large sums in bribing every one connected with the yamen.

    Chinese Folk-Lore Tales

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