Not me. Also–“Toymaker” an offensive racial stereotype? Weird.
I would assume, not Chinese, but as an honorific for a noble Chinese, if I saw someone dressed orientally with the honorific of ‘celestial’.
I don’t see how this would be racist, though. Did/does any other tribe/race/conglamorate of individuals use that honorific? I’d say it’s just indicative of the association, and was meant to be.
“Heavenly”, although not necessarily in a Christian sense.
Like I said, I’d heard it on a TV show, about the US Gold Rush and the growth of the railways. My understanding from that was that it was strictly used in a US context, but Wiki seems to say it was used in Australia and Canadia as well.
ETA my understanding is that this wasn’t so much a self-applied name, as a slightly derogatory one for Chinese immigrants who were employed as labourers on the railways and in laundries.
heavenly, pertaining to astronomy as in celestial sphere
While there’s no real reason for thinking “Celestial” referred somewhat “Chinese”, rather than the more typical definition, since this show was from over 45 years ago, it’s certainly plausible that a larger percentage of people from then knew of the more obscure meaning. If someone has it in his head that it meant “Chinese”, this poll won’t convince him otherwise.
As I mentioned above, I’ve heard it, but would never have thought of it without the obvious example of a person being referred to as a Celestial. Even with the Chinese outfit he wears, it would never have occurred to me.
I’ve seen and enjoyed Deadwood, so yes, I am familiar with this usage. But I had never heard of it pre-Al Swearingen.
Ya hooplehead.
Of, or having to do with, the heavens, i.e., the sky, the starry firmament.
Maybe it’s no coincidence that my first side-thought was about a Chinese restaurant menu. It was the first mention of China/Chinese in the thread too 
The reason for the poll, thankfully, was not nearly as lame as it could have been albeit a bit on the fringe of etymology.
Does anyone else recall seeing celestial being used on an Asian menu before?
No, but there’s Celestial Seasonings tea.
I think it means “related to the stars or the heavens”. I guess the only synonym I can think of is “heavenly”.
[spoiler]
Heavenly. Beyond the earth’s atmosphere. Astronomical. Non-terrestrial.
As an ex-Mormon, I’m very aware of the word’s usage in the LDS context. The “Celestial Kingdom” and the “Celestial Room of the temple” are places so extra-super-happy that only a worthy card-carrying Mormon with the proper passwords, handshakes, and attire may enter. Joseph Smith lifted the word from the New Testament, where it says that there are celestial bodies and terrestrial bodies and then makes a metaphor about the light from the sun, moon, and stars. Smith failed to recognize that the sun, moon, and stars are all celestial (non-terrestrial) objects, and taught that there are 3 kingdoms of heaven (or “degrees of glory”): Celestial, Terrestrial, and Telestial. AFAIK, he made up that last word. To make it more bizzare, he taught that the Earth will be the location of the Celestial Kingdom, after it has been purified and transformed into a giant crystal ball. So the Celestial Kingdom is geographically terrestrial, the Telestial Kingdom is the most terrestial in terms of the general welfare of its inhabitants, and yet the middle kingdom is arbitrarily named “Terrestrial”.[/spoiler]
Nope.
pertaining to the sky, space, stars. Most specifically, the night sky, I guess
To me it means something pertaining to space; galaxies, stars, etc. It seems to be used by advertisers to mean something that’s very good, above all the rest.
Having to do with stars/star-studded space.
Brand of herbal tea.
Goofy imprecise adjective used by people who believe in astrology and healing crystals.
Directly, pertaining to the ‘heavens’ (however defined). By extension, ‘heavenly’ or very, very good.
Not a big deal…but perhaps the OP himself would consider requesting that the Mods close this thread, as the desired results seem to have been obtained, and anyone coming across the thread now won’t realize this (since they are “forbidden” to read the thread before posting).
Some explanation of why “Celestial” is associated with “Chinese”, since several posters above wondered about it:
(I posted this earlier, hidden inside a spoiler. So here it is again, out in the open. Look for my original post somewhere above for a link to this: )
I have often wondered why China was called the “Celestial Empire”, but only now (and inspired by this top-secret almost-all-spoilered thread) I just googled it. Here is something I found:
[QUOTE=wiki.answers.com]
One ancient name of China is Celestial Empire. China is not an empire anymore, but the name still exists in articles, stories, movies, and TV shows.
The name is a direct translation of Chinese term Tian Chao (天朝), namely empire of heaven. The origin of it can be traced back to the traditional religion of China. In China, heaven is often considered the highest deity. The emperors are the sons of the heaven (Tian Zi or 天子) and are born to govern the country. Sometime, the emperors are also considered as the human form of Chinese dragon (Loong, or 龙）. So the full name should be Zhen Loong Tian Zi (真龙天子，Real Dragon the Heaven’s Son.
[/quote]