mikado

plural mikados

1. countableuncountablehistoryA former title of the emperors of Japan during a certain period.
2. countableliteraryAny emperor of Japan.

   The mikados of Japan are its emperors.

   2 more examples

   An interval of eighty years, occupied by two mikado of whose doings nothing is recorded, brings us to the celebrated female sovereign who invaded and conquered Korea.

   1878 July 1, “The Mythology and Religious Worship of the Ancient Japanese”, in The Westminster Review, volume CX, number CCXVII; New Series, volume LIV, number I, London: Trübner & Co., […], →OCLC, page 30

   Our great Mikado, virtuous man, When he to rule our land began, Resolved to try a plan whereby Young men might best be steadied.

   1885, Gilbert & Sullivan, The Mikado

   Synonyms: tenno

3. countableuncountableA game of skill, in which identically shaped (but differently colored and valued) wooden sticks must be removed from a pile without disturbing the remaining stack.

   Synonyms: pick-up sticks

4. countableuncountableA fabric having a stiff twill weave.

1. A hamlet in Saskatchewan, Canada.
2. A township and unincorporated community therein, in Alcona County, Michigan, United States.

plural Mikados

1. Alternative letter-case form of mikado (“emperor of Japan”).
2. rail transportThe steam locomotive 2-8-2 wheel arrangement.

   From Mombasa the train is worked by a Mikado, built in 1927 by Robert Stephenson, Darlington, originally intended for shunting, but now used on most passenger trains between Mombasa and Nairobi, where the rails are 80 lb. to the yard, laid in 40 ft. lengths.

   1950 April, Timothy H. Cobb, “The Kenya-Uganda Railway”, in Railway Magazine, page 263