noun
(historical) A high government bureaucrat of the Chinese Empire.
A pedantic or elitist bureaucrat.
(sometimes derogatory) A pedantic senior person of influence in academia or literary circles.
(ornithology) Ellipsis of mandarin duck.
(informal, British) A senior civil servant.
A figurine of a Chinese person with movable head that was popular in the 1950s. (Cf. bobblehead.)
adjective
Pertaining to or reminiscent of mandarins; deliberately superior or complex; esoteric, highbrow, obscurantist.
noun
Ellipsis of mandarin orange:
An orange colour.