China Girl's dictionary (8)
I believe the answer is:
chambers
'dictionary' is the definition.
(dictionary publisher)
'china girl's' is the wordplay.
'china' becomes 'ch'.
'girl's' becomes 'ambers' ().
'ch'+'ambers'='CHAMBERS'
(Other definitions for chambers that I've seen before include "Rooms for the judge and dictionary" , "Judge's room for hearing cases in private" , "Judge's room - dictionary" , "vaults" , "houses" .)