Ya chou, Yá chóu: 1 definition

[The following represents an unverified English translation. For all purposes consult the original Chinese text.]

牙籌 [yá chóu] [ya chou]—
1. Ivory-made counters or calculators. As described in The Book of Jin, Biography of Wang Rong (《晉書 [jin shu]．卷四三 [juan si san]．王戎傳 [wang rong chuan]》): "He would personally hold ivory counters (, yáchóu) to calculate day and night." Also, in Ling Mengchu's The Story of Red Dust (《紅拂記 [hong fu ji]》), Act 3: "At dusk, he still compares ivory counters (, yáchóu), and in the early morning, he busily checks the account books, only stopping when he dies!"
2. An ancient timekeeping device used at night. As in Yuan Shiyuan's poem Responding to Scholar Songshi's Sleepless Autumn Night (〈和松石舍人秋夜不寐 [he song shi she ren qiu ye bu mei]〉): "The ivory counters (, yáchóu) click with each passing watch, and the will-o'-the-wisps chirp across the water."

yá chóu:1. xiàng yá zhì chéng de chóu mǎ,, jì suàn qì. < jìn shū． juǎn sì sān． wáng róng chuán>: “měi zì zhí yá chóu, zhòu yè suàn jì.” míng． líng méng chū < hóng fú jì> dì sān chū: “huáng hūn hái bǎ yá chóu jiào, qīng zǎo máng jiāng bù jí chá, dào sǐ gāng cái bà! ”
2. gǔ shí yè jiān de jì shí qì. yuán． yuán shì yuán 〈hé sōng shí shě rén qiū yè bù mèi〉 shī: “yá chóu lì lì suí gèng zhuǎn, lín guǐ jiū jiū gé shuǐ tí.”

ya chou:1. xiang ya zhi cheng de chou ma,, ji suan qi. < jin shu. juan si san. wang rong chuan>: "mei zi zhi ya chou, zhou ye suan ji." ming. ling meng chu < hong fu ji> di san chu: "huang hun hai ba ya chou jiao, qing zao mang jiang bu ji cha, dao si gang cai ba! "
2. gu shi ye jian de ji shi qi. yuan. yuan shi yuan shi: "ya chou li li sui geng zhuan, lin gui jiu jiu ge shui ti."