japan, v. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

japan v.

[SE japan, to make black and glossy. The ref. is to the black clerical garb. Note Aus./US prison use japanned, said of a convict who has been converted by the chaplain]

1. to ordain a priest.

1756		Connoisseur 29 Jan. n.p.: Jack [...] sent me a very hearty letter, informing me that he had been double japanned (as he called it) [...] and was the present incumbent of — [F&H].
1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue (2nd, 3rd edn) n.p.: To be japanned; to enter into holy orders, to become a clergyman, to put on the black cloth: from the colour of the japan ware, which is black.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum [as cit. 1788].
1819		‘One of the Fancy’ Tom Crib’s Memorial to Congress 5: And lobsters will lie such a drug upon hand, / That our do-nothing Captains must all get jappan’d.
1852		C.A. Bristed Five Years in an Eng. University 344: Many [...] step [...] into the Church, without any pretence of other change than in the attire of their outward man, — the being ‘japanned’ as assuming the black dress and white cravat is called in University slang.
1860		Hotten Dict. of Modern Sl. etc. (2nd edn).
1879		J. Payn ‘A Change of Views’ in High Spirits II 106: He [...] was to be japanned in a fortnight. That was the expression which, I am grieved to say, he used, in those unregenerate days, for the ceremony of ordination.
1880		Bulletin (Sydney) 13 Mar. 4/1: According to Archbishop Vaughan, those members of his flock who are not ‘out-and-and-outers’ [sic] are ‘japanned Catholics’. This isn’t ‘soft sawder’.

2. (US) of a prisoner, to take up religion.

1881		Trumble Sl. Dict. (1890) 19: Japanned. A convict is said to be japanned when the chaplain pronounces him to be converted.
1895		C. Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. 39: Japanned, a thief converted by the chaplain is so spoken of.

3. (Aus. und.) to rob a cashbox.

1902		‘The Wasp’ ‘Tales of the Penance Track’ in Bulletin (Sydney) 31 May 31/1: Pincher Wilson, No. 47, undergoing a sentence of two years for ‘japanning,’ known to the initiated as cash-box or till-snatching.
1904		Truth (Sydney) 16 Oct. 7/1: No. 68, Paddy Toole, serving two years for japanning (thieving, a cash-box) .

4. (US Und.) to force the truth from someone.

1935

A.J. Pollock Und. Speaks n.p.: Japan him, compel him to tell the truth.