paxwax Now dial. and colloq.
(ˈpækswæks)
Also 5 paxwex, paswax, 6 pixwex, 7 pax-waxe, 7–9 packwax, 9 paxywaxy.
[A word used in many dialect forms, e.g. fix-fax, fic-fac, fig-fag, etc., the earliest known being fax-wax or fex-wex (W. de Bibbesworth 13..), which appears to contain OE. feax, ME. fex, fax (see fax n.1), the hair of the head, and OE. *weax growth, from weaxan to grow, wax; cf. the parallel Ger. synonym haarwachs sinew, f. haar hair + wachs, wax-, growth; cf. also MDu. geel haar ‘yellow hair’ = tendon.
In German, Grimm instances the second element in various forms, e.g. in OHG. uualto-uuahso, uuinuuahs, nerve, etc.]
A name for the stout elastic tendon extending from the dorsal vertebræ to the occiput, and serving as a support for the head, in various mammals, as the horse, ox, sheep, etc.; in others, as in man, existing in less developed form; the nuchal ligament, fixfax, whitleather.
| [13.. Gloss W. de Bibbesw. (MS. Camb. Gg. i. 1 lf. 280 b/2), E si ad derere le wen au col (gloss fax wax [v.r. fex wex]).] c 1440 Promp. Parv. 388/1 Paxwax, synewe (Pynson pax⁓wex). 14.. Arund. MS. 42 lf. 44 b, Delle..helpeþ for brussures of þe paxwax and of þe brawn. Ibid. 90 b, It [Galbanum] is gode for..þe shote in þe lacertys, i. in þe paswaxis. 1548–77 Vicary Anat. vi. (1888) 46 There be three maner of fleshes in the necke: the first is called Pixwex or Seruisis. 1610 Markham Masterp. ii. iii. 219 This [sinew] of the common Farriers is called pax-waxe. a 1682 Sir T. Browne Tracts viii. Wks. 1836 IV. 205 Words of no general reception in England, but of common use in Norfolk, or peculiar to the East Angle countries; as bawnd, bunny, thurck,..paxwax. 1691 Ray Coll. Words Pref., Paxwax..is a word not confined to Norfolk or Suffolk, but far spread over England; used, to my knowledge, in Oxfordshire. 1691 ― Creation i. (1692) 150 Which Aponeurosis..is taken notice of by the Vulgar by the name of Fixfax, or Packwax, or Whit-leather. 1713 Derham Phys.-Theol. (1723) 323 That strong..ligament..called the Whiteleather, Packwax,..and Fixfax. 1848 Carpenter Anim. Phys. 33 The ligament of the neck of many quadrupeds, commonly known as the paxy⁓waxy. 1865 Banks Wakefield Wds., As tough as pax-wax. |