▪ I. wax, n.1
(wæks)
Forms: 1 wæx, wex, 1, 2 weax, 3–6, 9 dial. wex, 4–6 wexe (5 vexe), 4–7 waxe, (4 waxche, Sc. vax, 5 whax), 5–7 Sc. walx, (6 Sc. valx, waux, waks), 3– wax.
[Com. Teut. (not recorded in Goth.): OE. weax neut. = OFris. wax, OS. wahs (LG., Du. was), OHG., MHG. wahs (mod.G. wachs), ON. vax (Sw. vax, Da. vox):—OTeut. *waχso-m.
Outside Teut. the word occurs as Lith. wãskas, OSl. voskŭ (Russ. vosk, Pol. wosk, Czech vosk), but prob. adopted from Teut. The root may be identical with Teut. *waχs- to grow (wax v.1); it seems not impossible that the etymological sense may have been ‘that which grows (in the honeycomb)’. The view now most in favour refers the word to the Indogermanic root *weg- to weave, found in OIrish figim I weave, L. vēlum veil, sail (believed to be from prehistoric *veg-slom), and in certain Teut. words (see wick n.1); the advocates of this etymology appeal to the apparent semasiological parallel of G. wabe, honeycomb, presumed to be from the root of weben weave v.1 Some other hypotheses have been proposed, but they are all unsatisfactory with regard either to form or meaning.]
1. a. A substance (also distinctively called beeswax) produced by bees, and used by them as the material of the honeycomb. It is a secretion of special glands in the abdomen, mixed with the secretion of the salivary glands in the process of mastication; when slightly warmed it is readily moulded into any shape, and when heated to about 150° melts into a liquid; in its natural state it is of a bright yellow colour. butter of wax: see butter n.1 3. Cf. wax-butter in 13.
Chemically beeswax is a combination of palmitic, cerotic, and melissic acids with myricil alcohol.
| 805–1375 [see 2]. c 1386 Chaucer Prol. 675 This Pardoner hadde heer as yelow as wex. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xix. lxi. (1495) 897 Wexe is the drastes of hony. c 1440 Pallad. on Husb. i. 1023 Of tyme is wex and hony maad swettest. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 165 b, Lyke as y⊇ hony is closed within the come of waxe. c 1560 A. Scott Poems i. 105 As beis takkis walx and honye of þe floure. 1601 Shakes. All's Well i. ii. 65 Since I not wax nor honie can bring home. a 1679 Sir J. Moore England's Interest (1703) 137 Break the Combs..into three parts. The first Honey and Wax, the 2d. Honey and Wax with Sandarack, the 3d. dry Wax without Honey. 1792 J. Hunter in Phil. Trans. LXXXII. 145 The wax is formed by the bees themselves; it may be called an external secretion of oil, and I have found that it is formed between each scale of the under side of the belly. 1834 M{supc}Murtrie Cuvier's Anim. Kingd. 433 Wax, according to the experiments of the same naturalists, is nothing more than elaborated honey. 1871 Staveley Brit. Insects 248 The substances or materials collected or produced by Bees are four in number—honey, bee-bread, wax, and propolis. |
¶ b. rough wax: a term formerly applied to the pollen adhering to the legs of bees, which was erroneously supposed to be the crude substance from which the wax was elaborated.
Obs.| 1744 tr. Bazin's Nat. Hist. Bees 43 This dust then, which falls upon these stamina of flowers, is the sole matter, of which wax is made, which I shall call rough wax. 1792 J. Hunter in Phil. Trans. LXXXII. 144 The substance brought in on their legs, which is the farina of the flowers of plants, is, in common, I believe, imagined to be the materials of which the wax is made, for it is called by most the wax. |
2. a. Beeswax as melted down, bleached, or otherwise prepared for some special purpose in the arts, in medicine, or in manufactures.
The more prominent uses are: as material for candles and tapers, as a plastic material for modelling, as a component of plasters, as a vehicle for encaustic painting, and as a protective coating to exclude the air.
| 805–10 in Birch Cartul. Sax. (1885) I. 459 Mon ðaet weax agæfe to cirican. 971 Blickl. Hom. 129 Swa swa eles ᵹecynd bið þæt he beorhtor scineþ þonne wex on sceafte. c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 47 Alse wex on þe candele sene, þe wueke wiðinnen unsene. c 1205 Lay. 2370 Muchel win, muchel wex, muchel wunsum þing. 1340–70 Alex. & Dind. 236 While þe weke & þe waxe vn-wasteþ lasteþ. 1375 Barbour Bruce xi. 119 Vyne and vax, schot and vittale. 1402 in E.E. Wills 11, ij torchis of wax. 1406 Hoccleve La Male Regle 254 Alle eres of men of his compaignie, With wex he stoppe leet, for þat they noght Hir song sholde heere. a 1425 tr. Arderne's Treat. Fistula etc. 81 If þou wilt make it in maner of one emplastre, putte þer-to wax and blak pich. 1597 Jas. VI Dæmonol. ii. v. 44 To some others at these times hee teacheth, how to make Pictures of waxe or clay: That by the rosting thereof, the persones that they beare the name of, may be continuallie melted or dryed awaie by continuall sicknesse. 1601 Holland Pliny xxxv. xi. II. 546 As touching the feat of setting colours with wax, and enamelling with fire, who first began and devised the same, it is not known. 1612 Sc. Bk. Rates in Halyburton's Ledger (1867) 293 Candles of walx the pound weght thairof, iiii s. 1638 Junius Paint. Ancients 133 There should be made three images of wax, in the place of three men that were to be offered unto Juno. 1676 Wiseman Surg. i. vi. 40 A Cerote of Wax and Oyl over the Leg. 1702 in Ashton Soc. Life Reign Q. Anne (1882) I. 283 Effigies..Curiously done in Wax to the Life. 1707–21 Mortimer Husb. II. 255 Cleft Grafting... Cover the Head of the Stock with temper'd Clay, or with soft Wax. 1768 W. Lewis Mat. Med. (ed. 2) 202 The chief medicinal use of wax is in plasters, unguents, and other like external applications. 1787 Trans. Soc. Arts V. 104 The Art of Painting in Wax as described in the following letter and account. 1789 Mrs. Piozzi Journ. France & Italy II. 227 They..I think excel Mrs. Wright's finest figures in wax. 1803 Nicholson's Jrnl. Nat. Philos. (8°) IV. 176 A stream of wax has just overflowed the cup of the wax candle by which I have been reading. 1815 S. Parkes Chem. Ess. II. 148 In some particular styles of work the operation of certain colours is resisted by means of stopping out with wax. 1832 Carlyle Ess., Death Goethe (1840) IV. 118 The true Sovereign of the world, who moulds the world like soft wax, according to his pleasure. 1840 Dickens Old C. Shop xxviii, Children, who..were fully impressed with the belief that her grandfather was a cunning device in wax. 1875 Knight Dict. Mech. 2312/2 Cover the inside of the [plaster] sections with a shell of wax. |
b. As used for the coating of writing tablets.
| 1533 Bellenden Livy (S.T.S.) I. 55 Als richtuislie as þai ar here Ingravin in þir tabillis or walx. 1565 Cooper Thesaurus s.v. Cera, Ceræ credere aliquid, Plaut. To wryte in tables of waxe. 1854 Fairholt Dict. Terms Art s.v. Encaustic, The artists of antiquity..used the stylus and wax for tablet-pictures and architectural decorations. |
c. A particular variety of wax. Usually with qualifying
adj., as
bleached wax,
white wax,
yellow wax. See also
virgin wax.
| 1545 T. Raynalde Byrth Mankynde 118 If the child be in great heate annoynte hym with the oyle of violettes, or with oyle olyfe, tempered with a lyttell whyte wexe. 1601 Holland Pliny xxi. xiv. II. 96 The best wax is that which is called Punica,..and is white. The next, in goodnesse is the yellowest,..such commeth from the countrey of Pontus. 1630 in Abridgm. Specif. Patents, Oils etc. (1873) 2 To make yellow wax white verie speedily. 1768 W. Lewis Mat. Med. (ed. 2) 201 Cera alba..White wax: the yellow wax artificially bleached. Ibid., Cera flava..Yellow wax; in the state wherein it is obtained from the combs. 1811 A. T. Thomson Lond. Disp. (1818) 112 Unbleached Wax... Yellow wax is prepared immediately from the honeycomb. 1843 R. J. Graves Syst. Clin. Med. xxix. 390 The applications in use were yellow wax ointment and nitrate of silver. |
† d. man of wax: a waxen image of a man.
Obs.| Cf. 1439 E.E. Wills 118 Allso I woll the great Image of wex that is at London be offred to our lady of Worcestre. |
| 1500 Will of Rigawell (Somerset Ho., Blamyr 23 b), I wille that my seid executors..shalle offre for me a man a [sic] of wax..at our lady of Walsyngham..also at the rode of Berkles a man of waxe. |
† e. pl. Pieces of wax.
nonce-use.
| 1550 Cranmer Def. Sacram. iii. 81 As two waxes, that be molten & put togither, they close so in one, that euery part of the one, is ioyned to euery parte of the other. |
f. An object made of wax. (
a) A wax candle. (
b) A figure or model in wax.
| (a) 1844 Hewlett Parsons & W. xlix, A resplendent October moon..seemed to impose upon us the notion that it would be a sacrilege against Diana if we were to shut out her rays, and substitute a pair of waxes for her clear beams. 1871 Besant & Rice Ready-money Mort. iii, Don't waste the light, Dick. You're burning one of your poor aunt's waxes. |
| (b) 1865 Tylor Early Hist. Man. vi. 125 A mediæval sermon speaks of baptizing a ‘wax’ to bewitch with. 1906 Westm. Gaz. 9 May 8/2 The original ‘waxes’ of Flaxman, Angelino, Pacetti, and other famous designers, from which the moulds for the familiar classical decorations were made. |
3. a. In figurative and similative uses, referring to the easy fusibility of wax, its softness and readiness to receive impressions, its adhesiveness, etc.
nose of wax: see
nose n. 4.
| c 825 Vesp. Psalter xxi. 15 Ᵹeworden wes heorte min swe swe wæx ᵹemaeltende in midle wombe minre. c 1000 Ags. Ps. (Th.) lvii. 7 Swa weax melteþ, ᵹif hit byð wearmum neah fyre ᵹefæstnad. c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints iv. (James) 266 Þe stane..wex nesch as it wax war. 1471 Ripley Comp. Alch. i. vi. in Ashmole (1652) 130 Fluxyble as Wex. 1546 J. Heywood Prov. ii. vi. (1867) 61 At my wil I wend she should haue wrought, like wax. 1592 Shakes. Rom. & Jul. iii. iii. 126 Thy Noble shape is but a forme of waxe, Digressing from the Valour of a man. 1598 E. Guilpin Skial. (1878) 58 He hath a wit of waxe, fresh as a rose. 1608 Dekker 2nd Pt. Honest Wh. i. (1630) B 3, Hip. I'm glad you are wax, not marble: you are made Of mans best temper. 1612 Beaum. & Fl. Coxcomb ii. ii, I'll work her as I go, I know shee's wax, now. a 1700 B. E. Dict. Canting Crew, Pliant,..Wax to every Thumb. 1717 Pope Hor. Ep. ii. ii. 9 He's your slave, for twenty pound a year, Mere wax as yet, you fashion him with ease. 1748 Richardson Clarissa (1768) VII. 365 When my mind is made such wax, as to be fit to take what impression she pleases to give it. 1817 Byron Beppo xxxiv, His heart was one of those which most enamour us, Wax to receive, and marble to retain. 1875 Stubbs Const. Hist. II. xiv. 99 John's heart was of millstone, Henry's of wax. |
b. Phrases:
close,
tight,
neat as wax;
to stick (to one) like wax;
to fit like wax.
| 1772 Cumberland Fashionable Lover iii. 35 But you mun be as close as wax, d'ye see. 1809 Byron Lines to Mr. Hodgson 30 All are wrangling, Stuck together close as wax. 1850 Susan Warner Wide Wide World xvi, The furniture was common, but neat as wax. 1859 Lytton What will he do iv. xiv, ‘Cabined, cribbed, confined’, in a coat that fits him like wax. 1865 Dickens Mut. Fr. iv. vi, Bella and John Rokesmith followed; Gruff and Glum stuck to them like wax. 1898 N. Gould Landed at Last v. 52 Not much chance of drawing Sim Sharples when he's alone. He's as close as wax, and so is Sam Rogers. 1902 [see tight a. 5]. |
c. man,
lad of wax: used as a term of emphatic commendation. Now
arch. and
dial. (see
Eng. Dial. Dict).
The origin of this expression is not clear. It may have meant ‘as faultless as if modelled in wax’ (
cf. 2 d.). Some would refer it to
wax n.2| 1592 Shakes. Rom. & Jul. i. iii. 76 Why hee's a man of waxe. 1607 Dekker & Webster West-w. Hoe ii. i, Hees a Knight made out of waxe. 1611 Beaum. & Fl. Philaster i. i, Oh! 'tis a Prince of wax. 1612 Field Woman is Weathercock i. B 4 b, By Ioue it is a little man of wax. 1821 W. T. Moncrieff Tom & Jerry iii. iii, A glass of good max..Wou'd have made them, like us, lads of wax. 1840 Peter Parley's Ann. I. 131 The shoemaker..surveyed the Prince from top to bottom. ‘No tailor could do that,’ said he; ‘he must be a lad of wax.’ 1858 Trollope Dr. Thorne iv, All right, my lad of wax. 1880 Blackmore Mary Anerley xxiii, Could any lad of wax put up with this, least of all a daring mariner? |
4. a. In early use, beeswax (or a mixture of this with other substances) as employed to receive the impression of a seal; in later use, a compound, chiefly consisting of lac, serving the same purpose:
= sealing-wax.
| 971 Blickl. Hom. 205 Þa fotlastas wæron swutole & ᵹesyne on þæm stane, swa hie on wexe wæron aðyde. a 1300 Cursor M. 557 Als prient of seel in wax es thrist Þer in he has his lic[nes] fest. a 1340 Hampole Psalter iv. 7 Þe prynt we bere of þ{supt} light as þe wax does of þe sele. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xix. lxi. (1495) 898 Preuyte is hydde vnder wexe: and pryueleges be confermyd with wexe. c 1450 Cov. Myst. (1841) 341 Loo! here is wax fful redy dyght, Sett on ȝour sele anon ful ryght. 1511–2 Act 3 Hen. VIII c. 6 §1 The Alnager..shall..not put to eny suche clothes eny seales of wexe in any wise. 1535 W. Stewart Cron. Scot. (Rolls) III. 464 Brekand promit to him befoir he maid In writ and walx, wnder thair seillis braid. 1560 J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 119 For al the sorte of them occupie waxe..in sealyng their letters. 1588 Shakes. L.L.L. iv. i. 59 We will reade it, I sweare. Breake the necke of the Waxe, and euery one giue eare. 1593 ― Lucr. 1245 No more then waxe shall be accounted euill, Wherein is stampt the semblance of a Deuill. 1607 Middleton Michaelmas Term iv. i, Hee will neuer trust his land in Waxe and Parchment as many Gentlemen haue done before him. 1609 Skene Reg. Maj., Forme of Proces 120 The deposition..sould be stampit and sealit be the Lords examinatours, with seale and walx, and sould not be opened at the secund or thrid examination. 1622 J. Taylor (Water P.) Farew. Tower Bottles A 3, Bound fast in Bonds in Parchment and with waxe. 1676 Wycherley Pl. Dealer iv. i, O do not squeeze Wax, Son; rather go to Ordinaries, and Baudy-houses, than squeeze Wax. 1717 Prior To Harley 1 Pen, ink, and wax, and paper send. 1761 Colman Jealous Wife i. 14 Maj. A Letter!—Hum—A suspicious Circumstance to be sure!—What, and the Seal a True-Lover's Knot now, hey!..or possibly the Wax bore the industrious Impression of a Thimble. 1818 Cruise Digest (ed. 2) IV. 32 One piece of wax may serve for all the grantors, &c...if every one of them put his seal upon the same piece of wax. 1818 Byron Juan i. cxcviii, The seal a sun-flower,..The wax was superfine, its hue vermilion. |
b. With designation of colour. See also
green wax.
| 1485 Nottingham Rec. III. 230 For rede wax to seale þe endentures. 1496 Acta Dom. Conc. II. 19 Ane decrete of the Lordis under the quhite walx. 1532 Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot. (1905) VI. 50 For rede waks and quhite to sele the citationis. 1641 ‘Smectymnuus’ Vind. Answ. Humb. Rem. §16. 218 The Greene Wax and Red Wax of the Bishops. 1653 in Verney Mem. (1907) I. 525 Stone Bottles with White Wine. They are all sealed with Black Wax. 1712 Steele Spect. No. 431 ¶ 3, I then nibbled all the red Wax of our last Ball-Tickets, and three Weeks after the black Wax from the Burying-Tickets of the old Gentleman. |
† c. hard wax = sealing-wax.
Obs.| 1603 R. Johnson Kingd. & Commw. 35 The Ilands affoorde plenty of hides, cotten,..hand wax and pearles. 1616 B. Jonson Devil an Ass v. i, My purse, my seales, My hard⁓wax, and my table-bookes. 1660 F. Brooke tr. Le Blanc's Trav. ix. 26 Laca d'Alaca..Of this is likewise made Spanish hard wax. a 1674 Clarendon Hist. Reb. xiv. §139 A clean piece of paper sealed with three impressions of an antique head in hard wax. |
5. Applied to artificial compounds having the properties of wax, and substituted for it in various applications.
| 1763 W. Lewis Commerc. Phil.-Techn. 78 The gilding wax is composed of bees-wax, red ochre or ruddle, verdegris, vitriol or alum, and sometimes other additions. |
6. Any of a class of substances, found in nature in greater or less purity, including beeswax and other compounds resembling it in general properties and (more or less) in chemical composition. In
Chem. properly restricted to those ‘waxes’ of animal and vegetable origin which, like beeswax, are composed of fatty acids and alcohols. The mineral ‘waxes’ are hydrocarbons.
a. A vegetable product obtained from various trees and plants.
| 1799 Med. Jrnl. I. 268 The matter of wax, as forming an ingredient in many vegetables, is discoverable, partly from their shining surface, partly from a certain flexibility in such bodies. 1803 Nicholson's Jrnl. Nat. Philos. (8°) IV. 187 The light matter which is called the down of fruits, which silvers the surface of prunes and other fruits, is wax. 1813 Sir H. Davy Agric. Chem. iii. (1814) 96 Wax is found in a number of vegetables, it is procured in abundance from the berries of the wax myrtle, it may likewise be obtained from the leaves of many trees. 1839 Ure Dict. Arts, etc. s.v., Wax exists also as a vegetable product, and may, in this point of view, be regarded as a concrete fixed oil. It forms a part of the green fecula of many plants, particularly of the cabbage; it may be extracted from the pollen of most flowers; as also from the skins of plums, and many stone fruits. It constitutes a varnish upon the upper surface of the leaves of many trees, and it has been observed in the juice of the cow-tree. The berries of the Myrica angustifolia, latifolia, as well as the cerifera, afford abundance of wax. 1880 Alcock in Encycl. Brit. XIII. 590/2 The Urushi tree growing in Japan (the fruit of which yields the vegetable wax). 1887 C. A. Moloney Forestry W. Africa 461 Gums and Resins, Vegetable Waxes. |
b. A substance resembling beeswax secreted or produced by various species of scale-insects. Sometimes called
Chinese wax. Also, ‘the product of some other homopterous insects’ (
Cent. Dict.).
| 1802 Bingley Anim. Biog. (1805) III. 290 To their [the larvæ of the cicada] labours the Chinese are indebted for the fine white wax that is so much esteemed in the East-Indies. They form a sort of white grease which attaches to the branches of trees, hardens there, and becomes wax. 1815 Kirby & Sp. Entomol. x. (1818) I. 328 In China wax is also produced by another insect, which..seems to be a species of Coccus. Ibid. 331 Early in the spring vast numbers of these caterpillars [of Phalæna ceraria] collect on the branches of the Chila, where they form their cells of a kind of soft white wax or resin... This wax, which is at first very white, but by degrees becomes yellow and finally brown, is collected in autumn by the inhabitants, who boil it in water, and make it up into little cakes for market. 1852 W. Gregory Handbk. Org. Chem. (ed. 3) 247 Chinese Wax. 1876 Westwood in Trans. Entom. Soc. Lond. 521 Now this ‘cottony’ covering was doubtless formed of the wax secreted by the Fulgora. 1899 D. Sharp Insects ii. 575 A great many [of the Fulgoridæ] have the curious power of excreting large quantities of a white flocculent wax. Ibid. 597 Ceroplastes ceriferus, a Lecaniid, produces white wax in India... The white wax of China is understood to be produced by another Lecaniid, Ericerus pela. |
c. A mineral product somewhat resembling bees-wax.
fossil wax or
mineral wax = ozocerite.
paraffin wax: see
paraffin n. 4.
| 1838 T. Thomson Chem. Org. Bodies 448 Fossil wax of Moldavia. 1842 Francis Dict. Arts, etc., Wax, Mineral, a bituminous substance, found at the foot of the Carpathian mountains, near Slarick. 1868 Watts Dict. Chem. (1877) V. 1037 Wax, Fossil. Syn. with Ozocerite. |
d. gen.| 1866 Watts Dict. Chem. (1877) IV. 322 Ozocerite..is like a resinous wax in consistence and translucency. 1868 Ibid. V. 1037 Japan-wax..is not a true wax, but a glyceride. |
e. (See
quots.)
Cf. paraffin wax s.v. paraffin n. 4.
| 1924 Ski Terms in Tourist (Winter Sports No.) 12/2 Wax, a paraffin preparation to prevent the snow balling under the ski. 1962 Austral. Women's Weekly 24 Oct. (Suppl.) 3/4 Wax, paraffin wax, rubbed on a [surf]board to prevent slipping. |
f. lost wax: see
lost ppl. a. 6.
7. = ear-wax.
| [1398–1614: see ear-wax.] 1706 Phillips (ed. Kersey), Cerumen, the filth or Wax of the Ear, which serves to hinder Dust, Motes, or any little Creatures from getting into it. 1889 L. Humphry Man. Nursing (1892) 216 When there is hard wax blocking up the canal [of the ear]. |
8. A thick resinous composition used by shoemakers for rubbing their thread. More fully
cobblers' wax,
shoemakers' wax: see
cobbler,
shoemaker.
| 1622 Massinger & Dekker Virg. Martyr iii. iii, Long I cannot last, for all sowterly waxe of comfort melting away, and misery taking the length of my foote, it bootes not me to sue for life. 1837 J. Kirkbride North. Angler 11 The amateur..must..be provided with..shoe-maker's wax. I prepare my own wax,..by boiling a little pitch and rosin together,..and tempering it with a very little tallow. 1885 J. B. Leno Boot & Shoemaking 222 Wax that will work up into the pure bronze colour so much liked by shoemakers may be made of 4 lbs. resin, 1 lb. pitch, 4 ounces beeswax, 3 ounces tallow. |
9. U.S. A thick syrup produced by boiling down the sap of the sugar-maple tree, cooling on ice, etc. (
Cent. Dict.)
| 1845 S. Judd Margaret ii. i, [Making maple sugar] The ‘wax’ is freely distributed to be cooled on lumps of snow or the axe-head. |
10. Mining. (See
quot.)
| 1883 Gresley Gloss. Coal-mining, Wax (Leicester.) soft or puddled clay used for dams or stoppings, and in which the colliers stick and carry about their candles in the mine. |
11. U.S. slang. A gramophone record;
to put on wax, to make a gramophone record of, to record. [From the ‘wax’ discs in which the recording stylus cuts its groove.]
| 1932 New Yorker 11 June 56/2 An extraordinarily competent bit of manufacture is the latest wax by Miss Jeanette MacDonald (Victor 24103). 1940 J. O'Hara Pal Joey (1952) 107, I am going to play the tune and cut a wax of it. 1941 Jazz Information Nov. 28/1 Some of the most beautiful piano playing Jelly Roll ever put on wax. 1941 W. C. Handy Father of Blues xvi. 219 Recording companies..made them available on wax. 1968 P. Oliver Screening Blues 4 The more sophisticated types of vaudeville entertainment were to be heard on wax before the Southern rural blues. 1979 Early Music Oct. 469/1 Scarlatti, Rameau, Couperin, Handel and, of course, Bach were committed to wax during the 1930s, as well. |
12. attrib. and
Comb. a. Attrib. (quasi-adj.) with the sense ‘composed of wax’. (See also
wax taper.)
| 1585 Higins Junius' Nomencl. 474/2 Ceroplastes,..a maker of wax images. 1685 G. Sinclair Satans Invis. World 3 This woman..had formed an Wax-Picture, with pins in the side. 1811 A. T. Thomson Lond. Disp. (1818) 714 Wax Plaster. 1825 in R. W. Goulding Louth Old Corpor. Rec. (1891) 185 By Cash of Madame Tussaud for 5 weeks use of the Mansion House for her Exhibitn of Wax Figures, 9 19 6. 1840 Dickens Master Humphrey's Clock I. 101 A young hairdresser..opened a wery smart little shop with four wax dummies in the winder. 1846 Dickens Pictures from Italy, Lyons, etc., There was a wax saint, in a little box..with a glass front to it. 1847 Ann. Reg. 20 A little box of about a dozen wax lucifer matches. 1849 Christmas Cradle of Twin Giants ii. iv. I. 271 An empty bier, surrounded by an hundred wax-torches. 1853 C. C. Felton Fam. Lett. viii. (1865) 61 The oddest thing of all is a wax figure of Frederic the Great. 1854 Poultry Chron. II. 105 Some freak of wax-fruit modelling. 1858 Simmonds Dict. Trade, Vesta, a kind of wax match. 1870 Bowen Logic xi. 353 It may be only a wax counterfeit. 1892 Photogr. Ann. II. 45 A wax vesta which is lit and the head knocked off. 1914 ‘Ian Hay’ Knt. on Wheels xx, His wife kept wax fruit under a glass case in her parlour window. 1969 Y. Carter Mr Campion's Farthing xix. 188 A wax dummy displaying a garment for sale. 1978 J. Anderson Angel of Death xii. 139 Her body as motionless, her face as impassive as a wax dummy. |
b. simple
attrib., ‘of or pertaining to wax’, as
wax-chip,
wax-solution,
wax-spot.
| 1859 Habits of Gd. Society xiii. 336 After the Tuileries' balls, we often returned with complete epaulettes of wax-spots on our shoulders, if in moments of carelessness we had stood under the chandeliers. 1889 Anthony's Photogr. Bull. II. 241 A wax solution or wax chips melted by a hot iron. |
c. objective, as
wax-bearer,
wax-bleacher,
wax-manufacturer,
wax-modeller,
† wax-nibbler,
wax producer,
wax-refiner;
wax-modelling vbl. n.;
wax-bearing,
wax-forming,
wax-producing,
wax-secreting ppl. adjs. Also
wax-maker, -making.
| 1577 tr. Bullinger's Decades v. iii. (1592) 884 The Acoluthes say they are *waxe-bearers, because they carrie waxe-candles. |
| 1796 Marshall Planting II. 232 The Candleberry Myrtle, or *Wax-bearing Myrick. |
| 1881 Instructions to Census Clerks (1885) 77 *Wax, beeswax—bleacher, refiner [etc.]. 1908 Westm. Gaz. 29 Apr. 1/3 He..became a wax-bleacher at Hoxton. |
| 1802 Bingley Anim. Biog. (1805) III. 289 The *Wax-forming Cicada. |
| 1858 Simmonds Dict. Trade, *Wax-manufacturer. |
| 1850 Ogilvie, *Wax-modelling. |
| 1712 Steele Spect. No. 431 ¶3 Chalk-lickers, *Wax-nibblers, Coal-scranchers, [etc.]. |
| 1889 Hardwicke's Sci.-Gossip XXV. 131 Insects..highly prized as *wax-producers. |
| 1861 Hulme tr. Moquin-Tandon ii. iii. 206 Bees are the principal *wax-producing animals. |
| 1881 *Wax-refiner [see wax-bleacher above]. |
| 1881 Globe Encycl. VI. 484 The *wax-secreting glands [in the bee]. |
d. instrumental, as
wax-coated,
wax-composed,
wax-daubed,
wax-erected,
wax-jointed,
wax-lighted,
wax-polished,
wax-rubbed,
wax-tipped,
wax-topped adjs.| 1875 Knight Dict. Mech. 2748/2 A machine for preparing *wax-coated matches for dipping. |
| a 1642 Sir F. Kynaston Leoline & Sydanis 1874 His *wax-composed wings unfeathered were. |
| 1942 W. Faulkner Go down, Moses 305 The tawny *wax-daubed shapeless lump. |
| a 1718 Parnell Hesiod 131 Thus in a thousand *wax-erected forts A loitering race the painful bee supports. |
| 1846 C. G. Prowett Prometh. Bound 27 While murmurs ever and anon From his *wax-jointed reed the same low sleepy drone. |
| 1839 Hood Lines to Friend at Cobham 17 You'll sometimes have *wax-lighted rooms. |
| 1866 J. B. Rose tr. Ovid's Met. 245 Chestnut bowls, *wax-polished was their wood. |
| 1598 E. Guilpin Skial. (1878) 26 Like a *wax-rubd Citty roome. |
| 1898 Conan Doyle Trag. Korosko i, He had..a small *wax-tipped moustache. |
| 1822 W. Irving Bracebridge Hall (1823) I. 113 The Stout Gentleman and his *wax-topped boots. |
e. similative, as
wax finish; with
adjs. denoting colour, as
wax-blond,
wax-brown,
wax-pale,
wax-red,
wax-white,
wax-yellow; also
wax-like adj.| 1925 E. Sitwell Troy Park 92 Oh, *wax-blond orange-blossoms' calice Of their hair. |
| 1887 W. Phillips Brit. Discomyc. 70 Cup medium size,..pale *wax-brown. |
| 1897 C. T. Davis Manuf. Leather (ed. 2) 464 The making of a *wax finish on chrome-tanned horse hide butts. |
| 1748 Richardson Clarissa (1768) III. 27 Her *wax-like flesh..answers for the soundness of her health. 1816 Coleridge Statesman's Man. 4 We..need not be surprised at the fact, that a jealous priesthood should have ventured to represent the applicability of the Bible to all the wants and occasions of men as a wax-like pliability to all their fancies and prepossessions. 1862 Miller Elem. Chem., Org. (ed. 2) 474 If its chloride be mixed with a solution of bichloride of platinum it yields a wax-like mass. 1885 Cornhill Mag. Mar. 284 A lovely..plant with masses of waxlike lilac blossom. 1899 J. Hutchinson in Archives Surg. X. Descr. Pl. xvii, The greater part of the hand is of wax-like pallor. |
| 1942 E. Sitwell Street Songs 31 Dark-leaved arbutus blooms with *wax-pale bells. |
| 1592 Shakes. Ven. & Ad. 516 Which purchase if thou make, for feare of slips, Set thy seale manuell, on my *wax-red lips. |
| 1883 ‘Mark Twain’ Life on Miss. xxxi. 338 All of them with *wax-white, rigid faces. 1890 Kipling Life's Handicap, Incarn. Krishna Mulvaney 29 My face was wax-white, an' at the worst I must ha' looked like a ghost. |
| 1805 T. Weaver Werner's Ext. Charact. Fossils 58 *Wax-yellow [G. wachsgelb] is a light honey-yellow, mixed with a little light ashes-grey. |
f. in parasynthetic formations, as
wax-featured,
wax-headed,
† wax-hearted adjs.| 1612 T. Taylor Comm. Titus i. 11. (1619) 227 How many who haue seemed waxe-hearted Christians, soft and pliable. 1913 E. Wharton Custom of Country ii. xii. 156 A showy Parisianized figure, with a small wax-featured husband. 1914 Glasgow News 22 Dec. 4 The map was bristling with wax-headed pins of great variety in size and colour. They represented army units. |
13. Special comb.:
wax bath, an application of warm liquid wax which is allowed to solidify to a part of the body, for cosmetic or medical purposes; also, an immersion in liquid wax;
wax bean U.S. = wax-pod bean below;
† wax boot, a boot made of waxed leather, for walking in marshy ground;
wax-bush, the plant
Cuphea viscosissima;
wax-butter = butter of wax (see
quot.);
wax-cloth, cloth coated with wax as a protection from wet; also, oil-cloth for covering floors or tables;
wax-cluster Austral., the plant
Gualtheria hispida;
wax-colour, (
a) a pigment ground with wax for encaustic painting; (
b) the yellow colour of wax; hence
wax-coloured a.;
† wax-comb, a honeycomb;
wax-creeper S. African, a name of two plants with wax-like flowers,
Hoya carnosa and
Microloma tenuifolium;
wax-cup, the hollow at the top of a burning wax candle;
wax-end, thread coated with cobblers' wax, used by shoemakers; hence
wax-ended a., bound with wax-ends;
wax-eye Austral. and
N.Z. = silver-eye s.v. silver n. and a. 21 c;
cf. zosterops;
† wax-farthing, a farthing paid by parishioners at Easter to provide wax candles for use in church;
wax-gland, a gland (in certain insects) secreting wax;
wax-hair, one of the long hairs occurring on the bodies of the young of
Psyllidæ or flea-lice;
† wax-house, a building in a monastery where wax candles were made;
wax-insect, an insect producing wax; also
attrib.;
wax jack, a contrivance designed for holding a coiled taper with its end ready for lighting, to provide a flame for melting sealing wax;
wax lathe Watchmaking, a lathe in which the object to be turned is fastened with shellac or sealing-wax;
wax-leather, leather ‘waxed’ or finished on the ‘flesh’ side; also
attrib.;
† wax-man, the officer of a trade guild who collected the contributions of the members for the wax candles to be used in the processions;
wax-moth, a moth whose larva preys on the honeycomb;
wax-mould,
† (
a) a mould for running melted wax into; (
b) a mould made of wax;
wax museum, a waxworks; also
fig.;
wax-myrtle = wax-berry a;
wax-nose, a ‘nose of wax’ (see
nose n. 4); hence
wax-nosed a.;
wax-oil Chem. (see
quot.);
† wax-opal (see
quot.);
wax-painting, encaustic painting;
wax-palm, a name for two S. American wax-yielding palms,
Ceroxylon andicola and
Corypha or
Copernica cerifera;
wax-paper (see
quot.);
wax pear, a variety of pear of a wax-like colour;
wax pigment, a pigment prepared with wax;
wax-pine,
wax-pink (see
quots.);
wax-pocket Ent., each of the sacs on the abdomen of the bee, for receiving the wax secreted by the wax-glands;
wax-pod bean, a dwarf French bean belonging to any of several varieties having yellow, stringless pods; a butter-bean;
wax print, cloth patterned by a batik process;
wax rose, a variety of rose whose petals have a waxy appearance;
† wax shoe, a shoe made of waxed leather (
cf. wax boot);
† wax-silver, money paid by parishioners at Easter for wax candles to be used in the church;
wax tablet, a board coated with wax, to be written upon with a stylus;
wax-weed = wax-bush;
wax-worm, the larva of the wax-moth.
| 1916 Chambers's Jrnl. Oct. 701/1 The *wax-bath has not been found beneficial in chronic rheumatoid arthritis. 1975 Harpers & Queen June 168/1 Sauna, steam cabinet baths, wax baths. |
| [1900 L. H. Bailey Cycl. Amer. Hort. I. 136/2 The Wax or Yellow-podded sorts need a richer soil.] 1905 Outing July 502/2 White bush *wax-beans are best for very early, but the pole varieties are better for late. 1967 R. M. Carleton Vegetables for To-day's Gardens ii. 14 No one has produced a wax bean with better flavour than Pencil Rod Black Wax. |
| 1676 Shadwell Virtuoso ii. 29 'Twill be as common to buy a pair of Wings to fly to the World in the Moon, as to buy a pair of *Wax Boots to ride into Sussex with. |
| 1845–50 A. H. Lincoln Lect. Bot. ii. 96 Cuphea viscosissima (*wax-bush). |
| 1868 Watts Dict. Chem. (1877) V. 1036 Beeswax is decomposed by dry distillation, giving off a product which forms, on cooling, a white buttery mass, called *wax-butter, or Butyrum ceræ. |
| 1816 Scott Bl. Dwarf i, The first..having a hat covered with *wax-cloth,..and dreadnought overalls. 1834 Carlyle Let. to Mrs. Austin (Thorpe's Catal. 1913) Some sort of wax-cloth for a lobby. 1868 Chamb. Encycl. X. 111/2 Wax-cloth, a name sometimes given, but very erroneously, to Floor-cloth (q.v.). |
| 1834 J. Ross Van Diemen's Land Ann. 133 Gaultheria hispida. The *wax cluster, abundant in the middle region of Mount Wellington. |
| 1854 Fairholt Dict. Terms Art s.v. Wax Painting, In Encaustic Painting, the *wax colours were burnt into the ground by means of a hot iron. 1901 Macm. Mag. Apr. 439/2 His sun-burned face turned wax-colour. |
| 1842 Loudon Suburban Hort. 581 Varieties of cornel..with *wax-coloured fruit. |
| 1375 Barbour Bruce xi. 368 Thai mycht liknyt be Till ane *vax-cayme that beis mais. |
| 1890 A. Martin Home Life Ostrich Farm 20 The little ‘*wax-creeper,’ than which tiny as it is, I do not think a more perfect flower could be imagined. |
| 1800 Herschel in Phil. Trans. XC. 463 That the *wax-cup of the candle be kept clean, and never suffered to run over. |
| 1825 Brockett N.C. Gloss., *Wax-end, the waxed thread used by cordwainers. 1838 Dickens O. Twist vii, ‘I will not, sir,’ replied the beadle, adjusting the wax-end which was twisted round the bottom of his cane for purposes of parochial flagellation. 1888 Fenn Dick o' the Fens 68, I could mend all this in less than an hour with some wax-ends and a brad-awl. |
| 1838 Dickens Nich. Nick. xiii, A fearful instrument of flagellation, strong, supple, *wax-ended, and new. |
| 1874 A. Bathgate Colonial Experiences xvii. 239 While some species are seemingly dying out, others, such as the moko-moko and the *wax-eye..appear to be increasing. 1957 J. Frame Owls do Cry ix. 39 The wax-eyes hungry for honey, will make their green and yellow cloud to follow her. |
| c 1588 in Rel. Ant. I. 255 Every house payd at Easter..j farthynge called a *waxfarthinge. |
| 1899 D. Sharp Insects ii. 589 Certain gall⁓dwelling Aphidae..possess numerous *wax glands. |
| Ibid. 580 In these earlier stages the body [of various Psyllidae] bears long hairs called *wax-hairs. |
| 1385–6 Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees) 391 In factura unius camini in le *Waxhous. 1472–3 Ibid. 413 Cum emendacione unius patelle de le wax⁓house, 14 d. |
| 1815 Kirby & Sp. Entomol. x. (1818) I. 329 This account is in the main confirmed by Geomelli Careri, except that he calls the *wax-insect a worm which bores to the pith of certain trees. 1857 Fortune Resid. among Chinese 147 The wax-insect tree is no doubt a species of ash (fraxinus). 1881 Globe Encycl. VI. 484/1 The Hemipterous family Coccidæ includes the chief wax insects, familiarly known as bark lice. |
| 1937 Times Lit. Suppl. 13 Mar. 189/2 Such diversities as a coach model, a silver *wax-jack and devices of human hair. 1956 G. Taylor Silver v. 114 The wax jack..is a simple framework supporting a horizontal reel which revolves to feed a length of taper up through a central nozzle. 1980 Halcyon Days Catal. 16/1 A bougie box or wax jack (designed to encase a flexible wax taper). South Staffordshire, c. 1770..{pstlg}520. |
| 1884 F. J. Britten Watch & Clockm. 139 For many operations required in watch jobbing Mr. Ganney recommends the *wax or cement lathe. |
| 1711 Steele Spect. No. 48 ¶4, I am mounted in high-heel'd Shoes with a glased *Wax-leather Instep. 1852 C. Morfit Tanning & Currying (1853) 152 Wax leather is blackened in the flesh. 1885 Harper's Mag. Jan. 278/1 Wax leather, the serviceable leather for the upper parts of men's boots. |
| 1766 Complete Farmer s.v. Bee, A small caterpillar, termed the wax-worm, or *wax-moth, because of the havock it makes on wax. 1815 Kirby & Sp. Entomol. xii. (1818) I. 390 The wax-moth larva (Galleria Cereana) will for want of wax eat paper, wafers, wool, etc. 1877 J. G. Wood Nature's Teach. 151 The Wax-moth, or Galleria-moth (Galleria alvearia)..is in its larval state extremely injurious to beehives. |
| a 1679 Sir J. Moore England's Interest (1703) 137 First provide necessary Instruments, as..Honey-Pots, *Wax-Molds. 1849 G. W. Francis Art of Modelling Waxen Flowers 16 Wax moulds for plaster casting, or the electro-type, should have [etc.]. |
| 1963 V. Nabokov Gift i. 35 A Russian foodshop, which was a kind of wax museum of the old country's cuisine. 1981 J. Valin Dead Letter viii. 68 There was something a little scarey about this artificial paradise... The place had the shallow charm of a wax museum. |
| 1813 Sir H. Davy Agric. Chem. iii. (1814) 96 Wax..is procured in abundance from the berries of the *wax-myrtle. 1884 Sargent Rep. Forests N. America (10th Census IX) 136 Myrica cerifera..Bayberry. Wax Myrtle. |
| a 1843 Southey Commonpl. Bk. (1851) IV. 11 It is fitter for the dotage dreams of Sir William Jones, than the visions of the poet. Let the *wax-nose be tweaked by Volney on one side and Maurice on the other! |
| c 1615 Sylvester Mem. Mortal. ii. xciv, Let's leave out I, and No, in Conversation: Words now transposed, and *wax-nosed, Both. |
| 1852 J. M. Honigberger Thirty-five Yrs. in East I. 69, I kept the wound open for several days, and ordered the swollen parts to be embrocated with *wax-oil. 1868 Watts Dict. Chem. (1877) V. 1036 [Beeswax gives off wax-butter, and] afterwards a more and more liquid oil, called wax-oil, still retaining a small quantity of solid matter. |
| 1896 Chester Dict. Names Min., *Wax-opal, an early name for yellow opal with a waxy lustre. |
| 1854 Fairholt Dict. Terms Art, *Wax Painting. This art practised by the ancients under the name of Encaustic, has lately been revived in several countries. 1859 Gullick & Timbs Painting 75 Various attempts have been made to re-introduce wax-painting; but the art of pencillum-encaustic, as practised by the ancients, seems to be lost. |
| 1830 Lindley Nat. Syst. Bot. 282 The Ceroxylon andicola, or *Wax Palm of Humboldt, has its trunk covered by a coating of wax, which exudes from the spaces between the insertion of the leaves. 1882 J. Smith Dict. Pop. Names Plants 436 Wax Palm. There are two so called: 1. Copernicia cerifera, a fan palm native of Brazil... 2. Ceroxylon andicola, a tall wing-leaved palm, native of the elevated regions of New Grenada. |
| 1844 Hoblyn Dict. Med., *Wax⁓paper. Charta cerata. Melt, in a water-bath, 48 parts each of white wax and fine turpentine, and 32 parts of spermaceti, and spread on paper. |
| 1600 Surflet Country Farm iii. xlix. 537 The best..perrie is made of little yellow *waxe peares. |
| 1854 Fairholt Dict. Terms Art s.v., This medium is employed in making the cakes of *wax-pigments for water⁓colours. |
| 1891 Century Dict., *Wax-pine, the general name for the species of Agathis (Dammara), coniferous trees producing a large amount of resin. |
| Ibid., *Wax-pink, a name for garden species of Portulaca: so called from their wax-like leaves and showy flowers. |
| 1815 Kirby & Sp. Entomol. xv. (1818) I. 492 The apparatus in which the wax is secreted consists of four pair of membranous bags or *wax-pockets. |
| [1913 L. C. Corbett Garden Farming ix. 136 A different variety..may have either green or wax pods.] 1921 Culture of Vegetables & Flowers (Sutton & Sons) (ed. 16) 24 Many visitors to the Continent have learned to appreciate the fine qualities of the *Waxpod Beans. 1951 [see butter-bean]. 1962 Amateur Gardening 5 May 19 The golden waxpod beans have always attracted a good deal of attention. |
| 1969 Times 24 Nov. (Congo Suppl.) p. iv/3 English Calico is planning a factory to manufacture 20m. yards of ‘*wax prints’ a year. 1979 Guardian 8 June 17/3 Accra's famous market mammies have their stalls..broken into..and their contents—waxprint cloth, provisions,..taken away. |
| 1837 Rivers Rose Amateur's G. 18 Duchess d'Angoulême, or the *wax rose, is an old but deservedly favourite variety. |
| 1664 Wood Life (O.H.S.) II. 20 For a paire of *wax shoes [cf. below 1666, waxt shoes], 4 s. 4 d. 1692 Sir J. Foulis Acc. Bk. (S.H.S.) 144 For 2 pair wax shoes. |
| 1432 in Glasscock Rec. St. Michael's, Bp.'s Stortford (1882) 3 Et in *wexsilver collecto in ecclesia in die Paschali, vijs. viijd. 1496 Cov. Leet Bk. 574 Item, that no maister make no brother to þe Craft yf he haue be prentes in þe Cite no lesse þen xiij s. iiij d. & his wax siluer. |
| 1807 Douce Illustr. Shaks. II. 228 The Roman practice of writing on *wax tablets with a stile was continued also during the middle ages. 1905 J. B. Bury Life St. Patrick iii. 40 Honoratus sent a messenger across in a boat with a letter on a wax tablet. |
| 1884 W. Miller Plant-n. i. 144 *Wax-weed, Blue, Cuphea viscosissima. 1766 *Wax-worm [see wax-moth]. |
▸ A preparation of wax which is used to remove unwanted body hair (
cf. wax v.
2 1c). Also: a depilatory treatment using this;
freq. with modifying word specifying the area treated, as
body wax,
leg wax, etc.
| 1926 Chicago Daily Tribune 28 Mar. vi. 3/2 One must be sure of the quality of the preparation, since preparations are sold that act like pitch, pulling the skin off with the wax. 1941 Los Angeles Times 7 Oct. ii. 9/3 A schedule that keeps you going from appointments for manicure, pedicure.., facial, leg wax..to any service you may desire. 1991 Hair's How No. 34. 807/3 Hair removal, whether you're using a wax, razor or cream is called depilation. 1993 J. Saunders Absolutely Fabulous iv. 91 I've got to fit in a high colonic and a body wax this afternoon. 2006 P. Williams Rise & Fall of Yummy Mummy iii. 30 Maybe I could do with a wax. |
▪ II. wax, n.2 Now
rare exc. dial. (
wæks)
[f. wax v.1 Cf. G. wachs.] 1. The process of waxing; growth.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 1430 Euer stod þai [sc. þe wandes] still in an, Wit-outen wax, wit-outen wain. Ibid. 8244 A-boute þat tre, A siluer cercle son naild he, Þat was þe stouen for to strength, And knau þe wax o gret and length. 1892 Athenæum 30 Jan. 146/2 ‘On the Wane’ (which should strictly be called ‘On the Wane, on the Wax, and on the Wane Again’). |
2. Stature; size (of something growing).
| c 1460 Towneley Myst. xxx. 245 Thou art best on thi wax that euer was clekyt, or knawen. 1618 W. Lawson New Orch. & Garden (1626) 35 The boale will be first, and best serued and fed, because he is next the root, and of greatest waxe and substance. 1868 Atkinson Cleveland Gloss. and 1876–89 in Yorks. and Lincs. glossaries. |
▪ III. wax, n.3 colloq. or
slang. (
wæks)
[Of doubtful origin; possibly evolved from some phrase like to wax angry (arch.), to wax warm (now dial.): see wax v.1 9 a (b).] Angry feeling; a fit of anger; chiefly
to be in a wax.
| 1854 ‘C. Bede’ Verdant Green ii. vii, I used to rush out in a frightful state of wax, and show a leg. 1865 H. Kingsley Hillyars & Burtons xxxv, Can't you get into a wax, old girl? 1874 H. Belcher Cramleigh Coll. I. 181 It ain't my fault if you've been bohooin'; so don't be in a wax with me. 1880 ‘Ouida’ Moths I. 112 What a wax you're in, Dolly. |
▪ IV. wax, v.1 (
wæks)
Pa. tense and
pple. waxed (
wækst); also
pa. pple. waxen. Forms:
inf. (and
pres. stem). 1
weaxan,
weacsan,
weahsan,
weahxan,
wexan,
wehsan, 2–3
wecsen, 2–4, 6–7
arch. wexen, 3
uexen,
wexi, 4–5
wix(e, 5
vexe,
wexyn,
vix(e,
vyx(e, 3–6
wexe, 4–7 (9
arch.)
wex; 2–4
wacse(n, 3
Orm. waxenn,
waxxenn, 3–6
waxen, 5
waxyn, 4–6
Sc. vax, 6
weaxe,
Sc. walx, 3–7
waxe, 3–
wax.
contr. 2 sing. 1
wyxt, 4
wext;
3 sing. 1
weaxt,
wexþ,
wixt, etc., 3
west, 3–4
wexþ, 4
wext.
pa. tense sing. 1
wéox,
wéocs,
wéohs,
Northumb. -wóx, 2
weax,
weacs, 2–3
wæx, 3
weox, 2–5
wex, 4–5
wexe,
weex,
north. wix,
wyx, 4
north. vex; 2
wacxs, 3–6
wax, 4–5
waxe, 4
waux; 3–6 (7, 9
arch.)
wox, 4–6 (9
arch.)
woxe, 4–6
Sc. vox, 5
woxse, 4–5
Sc. woux, 6
Sc. woix,
wolx.
pl. 1
wéoxon,
wéohson,
wéoxson,
Northumb. wóxon,
Mercian wéxon, 2
weoxan, 3
weoxen, 3–5
wexe(n; 3
wuxen, 4
wuxe, 3–5
woxe(n, 4
waxen.
weak. 4
wast, 4–5
wex-,
waxide,
-ede,
pl. wexiden,
-eden, 5
wexedde,
wexid,
wexte,
waxet,
waxte,
waxhid,
pl. waxiden, 5–6
waxt, 5–7
wext,
wexed, 6
weaxed, 5–
waxed.
pa. pple. 1
weaxen, 2 (
ȝe)wexon, 3 (
i)wexan, 3–6
wexen, 3–5
wexe, 4–5
wex,
wexun, 5
-in,
-yn,
wixen; 3–7 (8–9
arch.)
waxen, 3–6
waxin, 4–5
-yn,
wax(e, 4
ywax, 5
waxun,
waxson, 6
Sc. walxin; 3–7
woxen, 3–4
i-,
ywoxe, 3–5
woxe,
woxin, 3 (
i)wox, 4, 6
wox, 4
woxyn,
woxsen, 4–5
woxun.
weak. 4
wexid, 5
y-wexed, 5–7
wext, 6
waxt,
weaxed,
Sc. vaxit, 6–7
wexed, 6–
waxed.
[A Common Teut. strong verb (which became weak in late ME.): OE. weaxan (pa. tense wéox, Northumb. wóx; pa. pple. weaxen) corresp. to OFris. waxa (W.Fris. waechsje, wachse, N.Fris. wāks), OS. wahsan, (M)Du. wassen, OHG. wahsan (MHG., mod.G. wachsen), ON. vaxa (Sw. växa, Da. vokse), Goth. wahsjan (with ja- suffix in the pres.-stem; pa. tense wōhs, pa. pple. wahsan-s):—OTeut. *waχs-:—pre-Teut. *woks-, an ablaut variant of Indogermanic *aweks-, *auks-, *uks- (Gr. ἀέξειν, αὔξειν, αὐξάνειν to increase, Skr. ukš to grow, perf. va- vakša, causative vakšayati), an extended form of *aweg- *aug-, *ug- (L. augēre to increase, Sk. ōjas neut., strength, Lith. augu I grow, OTeut. *auk- in Goth. aukan, OHG. ouhhôn, OE. éacian to grow, increase: see eke v.) The
OTeut. conjugation of the verb is retained in
Goth.,
OHG.,
OS., and
ON.; in
OE. it is confined to the Northumbrian dialect (
pa. tense
wóx); the
WS. pa. tense
wéox and the
Du. wies are due to the analogy of the reduplicating verbs.
The strong
pa. tense became rare after the 14th c., and is now wholly obsolete; the one or two examples in the poetry of the 18–19th c. are deliberately archaistic. For the
pa. pple. the Bible of 1611 has
waxed four times and
waxen eight times; in recent use
waxen is not unfrequent when the verb is conjugated with
to be, but is otherwise very rare.]
Originally a more frequent synonym of
grow v., which has now superseded it in general colloquial use,
exc. with reference to the moon (see 6). With this exception, the senses below which are not marked as obsolete are confined to literary use, and have, in varying degrees, a somewhat archaic flavour; some of those under branch I survive only in the traditional antithesis with
wane v. The verb is said still to be current in certain dialects: see
Eng. Dial. Dict. I. To grow, increase. (Opposed to
wane,
† wanze.)
1. intr. Of a plant or its parts: To increase gradually in size and vigour; to develop, sprout (
up).
Obs. exc. dial. † Also, to grow in a specified habitat or situation (
obs.).
| c 897 ælfred Gregory's Past. C. xl. 293 Sumu twiᵹu he lehte mid wætere, ðonne hie to hwon weoxson, ðæt hie ðy suiður weaxan sceolden. c 1000 ælfric Hom. II. 402 Rixe weaxst ᵹewunelice on wæteriᵹum stowum. c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 161 Hie wenden þe eorðe, and wurpen god sad þaronne, and hit wacxs and wel þeagh. 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 494 Corn & frut hom wax inouȝ. c 1381 Chaucer Parl. Foules 206 There wex ek euery holsum spice & gres. 1382 Wyclif Matt. xiii. 7 The thornis wexen vp. a 1400–50 Wars Alex. 4772 Lo, þis was a wondirfull werk..þat þai [trees] suld wax soo & wane within a wale time. 14.. in Rel. Ant. I. 54 Tak everferne that waxes on the ake. 1577 B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. i. 40 b, When the Corne is ripe..you must then haue it in, that it may rather waxe in the Barne then in the Feelde. 1612 Drayton Poly-olb. v. 51 The Stem shall strongly wax, as still the Trunk doth wither. 1886 S.W. Linc. Gloss. s.v., The plums are waxing nicedly. |
† b. Of a mineral: To be native, be found, in a specified place;
= grow v. 2 b.
Obs.| c 1000 ælfric Gen. ii. 11 Þæt land þe ys ᵹehaten Euilað, þær þær gold wext [Vulg. ubi nascitur aurum]. 1362 Langl. P. Pl. A. xi. 12 Al þe presciouse Peerles þat in paradys waxen. |
2. Of human beings and animals: To increase gradually in size and strength of body and limb.
arch. and
dial.| c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Luke ii. 40 Soðlice þæt cild weox. c 1200 Ormin 3182 & swiþe wel he wex & þraf. c 1205 Lay. 30073 Þa children wuxen and wel iðoȝen. a 1300 Havelok 791 Ich am wel waxen. a 1300 Cursor M. 10613 Als sco wex on hir licame, Sua wex hir loueword and hir fame. 13.. Coer de L. 2836 For fourty pound men sold an oxe, Though it were but lytyl woxe. c 1400 Destr. Troy 12449 Thies [two sons] were gyuen to the gouernaunce of a gay kyng,..Till þai waxen were of wit & of wight dedis. 1471 Caxton Recuyell (Sommer) 247 In this nourysshing he waxe and grewe in all beawte, strengthe, and prudence. a 1547 Surrey æneid iv. 353 Ascanius yet that waxeth fast behold. 1575 Turberv. Faulconrie 358 You must beware that you take them not before they are somewhat woxen. 1677 in Ray's Corresp. (1848) 127, I think they [salmon] wax for five or six years. 1875 F. J. Scudamore Day Dreams 83 For a time he grows and waxes in his stye. 1887 Morris Odyss. xi. 311–2 And when nine years they were waxen, nine cubits length outright Was the measure of their bigness. 1889 N.W. Linc. Gloss. s.v., Thy bairn waxes fast, she's taller ivery time I see her. |
† b. of a part of the body, the hair, etc.
Obs.| a 1000 ælfric Hom. II. 434 His feax weox swa swa wimmanna. a 1300 Cursor M. 7257 Wexen was sumdel his hare. 1303 R. Brunne Handl. Synne 9224 Here cloþes ne roted, ne nayles grewe, Ne heere ne wax. c 1374 Chaucer Boeth. iv. met. iii. (1886) 95 Þat oother is chaunged in to a lyoun..and hise nayles and hise teth wexen. 1548–77 Vicary Anat. ii. (1888) 24 The Nayles..are alwayes waxing in the extremitie of the fyngers and toes. |
† c. Of a morbid growth or disease: To arise and develop on or in the body.
Obs.| c 1000 Sax. Leechd. I. 118 Gif nebcorn on wifmannes nebbe wexen. a 1225 Ancr. R. 288 Þeonne..þer waxeð wunde & deopeð into þe soule. a 1400–50 Stockh. Med. MS. 117 For angenayll þat waxin in feet. c 1400 Lanfranc's Cirurg. 100 A surgian muste þanne be bisy in al þat he myȝte, þat a crampe ne wexe not in þe wounde. |
† 3. Of a company, host, people: To increase in numbers.
Obs.| c 897 ælfred Gregory's Past. C. xvii. 109 Dryhten cuæð to Noe & to his bearnum: Weahsað ᵹe & moniᵹfaldiað & ᵹefyllað eorðan. a 1122 O.E. Chron. (Laud MS.) an. 999 And a hi leton heora feonda wærod wexan. c 1200 Ormin 3947 Þatt heoffness here mihhte swa þurrh hallȝhe sawless waxenn. 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 3259 Wexinge euere beþ vre fon, bi water & bi londe. 13.. K. Alis. 6023 (Laud MS.), Now gynneþ his Oost fast to wexe. c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 1255 Þey wil waxe & we schal wanye; When we ben fewe, þey schol be manye. c 1380 Sir Ferumb. 1485 Cryst of heuene ȝow alle saue my messagers alle sixe! & ȝut þe vij schulle ȝe haue ȝour felaschip to make wixe. 1581 Mulcaster Positions xxxvii. (1887) 148 Will ye haue the multitude waxe, where the maintenance waines? 1612 Drayton Poly-olb. xiii. 26 Her people wexing still, and wanting where to build. a 1656 Ussher Ann. (1658) 1 Then blessing them, he bade them wex and multiply. |
4. Of a person, nation, institution: To advance in power, importance, prosperity, etc. Const.
in,
† on.
| a 1122 O.E. Chron. (Laud MS.) an. 1052 Þa wæx hit [sc. the minster] swiðe on land & on gold & on seolfer. c 1200 Ormin 10868 Iwhillc mann..Birrþ..þrifenn aȝȝ & waxenn aȝȝ Inn alle gode þinge. Ibid. 17967 Ned iss..Þatt he nu forrþwarrd waxe, & ec iss ned & god off me, Þatt I nu forrþwarrd wannse. 1340 Ayenb. 26 Al-huet þanne þet hi byþ uol wexe and heȝe ycliue ine dyngnetes. c 1380 Sir Ferumb. 1666 Al-so mot y waxe. 1449 Pecock Repr. iii. viii. 322 Sithen the chirche wexid in dignitees, he decrecid in vertues. 1567–9 Jewel Def. Apol. (1611) 32 Mali proficiunt: Boni deficiunt: The wicked wax: the godly wane. 1597 Bp. Hall Sat. iii. i. 44 Now man, that earst Haile-fellow was with beast, Woxe on to weene himself a God at least. 1607 Shakes. Cor. ii. ii. 103 His Pupill age Man-entred thus, he waxed like a Sea. 1624 J. Taylor (Water P.) Praise Clean Linen Ded., Hee is a firme and stable man, and waxeth much oftner then hee wanes. 1690 Child Disc. Trade Pref. (B 2 b), Land and Trade, which are Twins, and have always, and ever will wax and wane together. 1864 Tennyson Boadicea 40 Thou shalt wax and he shall dwindle. 1873 Burton Hist. Scot. VI. lxviii. 112 A democratic party equally hostile to them was waxing in size and strength. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) V. 54 The nation waxed in freedom and friendship and communion of soul. 1876 Morris Sigurd ii. 85 Now waxeth the son of Sigmund in might and goodliness. 1914 H. H. Henson War-time Serm. xix. 244 Elmham waned as Norwich waxed. |
5. Of inanimate things: To increase in size, quantity, volume, intensity, etc. Of water, the sea: To rise, swell; to flow
out in a flood. Of day or daylight, night: To grow longer.
| 971 Blickl. Hom. 245 Þæt wæter weox oþ mannes swuran. 1122 O.E. Chron. (Laud MS.), Hi sæᵹon norðeast fir micel & brad wið þone eorðe, & weax on lengþe up on an to þam wolcne. c 1200 Ormin 1901 Marrchess nahhtess wannsenn aȝȝ, & Marrchess daȝhess waxenn. Ibid. 1918 O þatt daȝȝ biginneþþ uss Þe daȝȝess lihht to waxenn. Ibid. 2472 Hire wambe siþþenn toc To waxenn alls itt birrde. a 1225 Ancr. R. 124 Þer ase muchel fur is, kundeliche hit waxeð mid winde. c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 599 Dunes wexen, ðe flod wiðdroȝ. c 1290 St. James 136 in S. Eng. Leg. 38 Þe ston bi-gan to wexe a-brod and holuȝ bi-cam a-midde. 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 6562 Þe se flode..bigan to wexi uaste ase it deþ atte tide. a 1300 Cursor M. 1775 Þe water wex oute ouer þe plains. c 1325 Spec. Gy Warw. 1001 Þi mele ne shal wante noht, And þin oyle shal waxen. c 1425 Wyntoun Cron. i. vii. 398 The watters wox as thai war wod. c 1430 Chev. Assigne 158 It [the chain] wexeth in hys honde & multyplyethe swyde. a 1500 Chaucer's Dreme 1550 Wexing the se, comming the flode. 1820 Scott Monast. v, Whereby I may be obliged to take the river, which I observed to be somewhat waxen. 1869 A. M{supc}Laren Serm. Ser. ii. xi. 201 Energy which wanes as the years wax. 1884 Spectator 2 Aug. 1009/2 Glaciers..wax and wane in some mysterious manner. 1888 F. Hume Mme. Midas i. iv, Whereon the sacred fire should be kept constantly burning, waxing and waning with the seasons. |
6. Of the moon: To undergo the periodical increase in the extent of its visible illuminated portion, characteristic of the first half of the lunation.
| 971 Blickl. Hom. 17 Þonne he [the moon] wexeþ, he bið ᵹelic þæm godum men þe ahopað to þæm ecean leohte. c 1000 ælfric Hom. I. 154 Se mona deð æᵹðer ᵹe wycxð ᵹe wanað: healfum monðe he bið weaxende, healfum he bið waniᵹende. a 1225, c 1386, c 1440 [see wane v. 2]. 1591 Sylvester Du Bartas i. iv. 760 Tho wexing us-ward, heav'n⁓ward thou dost wane. 1781 Cowper Expost. 324 States thrive or wither, as moons wax and wane. 1859 Jephson Brittany viii. 110 Twelve moons had waxed and waned. 1865 Tylor Early Hist. Man. vi. 133 Grafts are to be set while the moon is waxing. 1914 Blackw. Mag. Aug. 177/1 The moon was now waxing fast. |
7. Of a quality, state of things, activity, wealth, etc.: To become gradually greater or more striking; to increase in potency or intensity.
| Beowulf 1741 Oð þæt him on innan oferhyᵹda dæl weaxeð ond wridað. c 897 ælfred Gregory's Past. C. xxxiii. 217 æᵹhwelces lareowes lar wihxð [Cott. wihst] ðurh his ᵹeðylde. c 1200 Ormin 3949 Þurrh whatt biforenn Drihhtin Godd Wurrþshipe waxenn shollde. a 1250 Owl & Night. 689 Wit west among his sore An for his sore hit is þe more. c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 1268 Abimalech saȝ abraham, Hu welðe him wex and migte cam. a 1300 Cursor M. 19399 Godds word wex fast and greu. c 1350 Will. Palerne 737 His langure gan wex. 1581 A. Hall Iliad i. 17 When so his furie woxe, from skies he did me thro Down by the foote. 1598 Sylvester Du Bartas ii. i. iv. Handie-Crafts 560 His Art, still wexing, sweetly marrieth His quavering fingers to his warbling breath. 1624 Quarles Job Militant i. 13 As did his Name, his Wealth did daily wex. 1627 Drayton Agincourt cxcii, Now wexed horror to the very height. 1855 Motley Dutch Rep. iv. iv. III. 65 Moreover, the discord among the Reformers themselves waxed daily. |
b. in contrast with
wane or
† wanze.
| 13.. Pol. Rel. & L. Poems (1903) 263 Worldes catel passet sone, Þat wacset & wansit rit as te mone. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xv. 3 And so my witte wex and wanyed til I a fole were. 1601 2nd Pt. Return fr. Parnass. v. iv. 2203 My fortunes cannot wax but they may waine. 1711 Pope Temple Fame 486 Some [lies] to remain, and some to perish soon; Or wane and wax alternate like the moon. 1809–10 Coleridge Friend xiv. (1865) 63 Its impulses wax as its motives wane. 1826 Wordsw. ‘Once I could hail’ 42 In that domain Where joys are perfect—neither wax nor wane. 1899 E. J. Chapman Drama Two Lives 9 All life's poor glamours wax and wane. |
† 8. a. Of a quality, activity, event, etc.: To come into being, spring up, begin, arise, occur. Also with
up. Of the day: To appear, dawn.
Obs.| c 888 ælfred Boeth. v. §3 Of ðam ðonne onginnað weaxan þa mistas ðe þæt mod ᵹedrefað. 1154 O.E. Chron. (Laud MS.) an. 1140, Þer efter wæx suythe micel uuerre betuyx þe king & Randolf eorl of Cæstre. c 1230 Hali Meid. 3 Hu muche god mihte of inker streon waxen. c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 273 An wid ðat pride him wex a nyð. 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 1713 Bituene þe romeins & þis lond þer wax þo striuing. c 1300 K. Horn 1452 (Laud) Þe day by gan to wexe. c 1320 Sir Tristr. 3327 Þer wex a kene crie. a 1340 Hampole Psalter xxvi. 6 If..temptacyons wax ageynes me. c 1374 Chaucer Boeth. i. pr. vi. (1886) 18 Of which false opyniouns the dirkenesse of perturba[ciouns] wexit [Addit. MS. wexeþ] vp. c 1425 Engl. Conq. Ireland xi. 26 In thys whyle, wax a grett wreth & a grete stryfe betwyx þe kyng of Connaght, & donoll Obreyn. |
† b. to wax forth, to be born or created.
Obs.| 1362 Langl. P. Pl. A. x. 33 For wiþ word þat he warp woxen forþ Beestes. |
II. With complement: To change by growth or increase, to become. (
Cf. grow v. 12.)
9. a. With
adj. complement: (
a) With more or less of the idea of growth or increase: To become gradually, grow.
| c 1200 Ormin 2479 Þatt ȝho wass waxenn summ del græt & tatt ȝho wass wiþþ childe. a 1300 Leg. Rood ii. 133 So þat wiþþinne þritti ȝer þis tre wox wel heie. 13.. E.E. Allit. P. A 538 Þe sunne was doun & hit wex late. 1387 Trevisa Higden VIII. 287 Þe Scottes wex [v.r. wuxe] strenger and strenger. a 1400 Octouian 670 Florent ys x. yere old and fyyf, And heghe y-woxe. 1422 Yonge tr. Secreta Secret. 243 The medys wixen grene. c 1460 Towneley Myst. i. 163 Bryng ye furth and wax ye mo. 1542 Udall Erasm. Apoph. 241 b, Signifiyng..the dayes to have weaxed longer. 1560 Bible (Geneva) Deut. xxxii. 15 But he that shulde haue bene vpright, when he waxed fat, spurned with his hele [1611 Jesurun waxed fat, and kicked]. 1562 A. Brooke Romeus & Jul. 209 This sodain kindled fyre in time is wox so great. 1590 Spenser F.Q. ii. x. 32 Till that her sisters children, woxen strong Through proud ambition, against her rebeld. 1651 R. Child in Hartlib's Legacy (1655) 64 According as your plants are waxen strong. 1764 H. Walpole Otranto v, Manfred..pushed on the feast until it waxed late. 1836–7 Sir W. Hamilton Metaph. xxxvii. (1870) II. 335 By degrees, our conception waxes fuller. 1874 Green Short Hist. viii. §6. 525 The panic waxed greater when it was found they claimed to be acting by the King's commission. 1881 Besant & Rice Chapl. Fleet I. 15 Even the foxes and their cubs..had of late waxed fat and lazy. |
(
b) Without the idea of growth or increase: To become, turn. (Sometimes used with reference to a sudden or immediate change.)
| c 1220 Bestiary 151 If he [the adder] cloðed man se, Cof he waxeð. a 1300 Cursor M. 3563 His blode þan wexus dri and cald. 13.. K. Horn 302 (Harl.) Vpon Athulf childe rymenild con waxe wilde. 1382 Wyclif Matt. xxiv. 12 The charite of manye schal wexe coold. 1390 Gower Conf. I. 34 Whan he wax seke, thei woxen seke. 1422 Yonge tr. Secreta Secret. 213 Yf the messager wix dronke. c 1489 Caxton Blanchardyn xx. 64 Þe proude lady..wexed red as a rose. 1513 Douglas æneis ii. viii. 78 The wyde hallis wolx patent [L. atria longa patescunt]. 1542 Udall Erasm. Apoph. 344 Y⊇ people..whished & weaxed dumme. 1545 T. Raynalde Byrth Mankynde 127 Take fyne meale, and bake..tyll it waxe browne. 1593 Shakes. 2 Hen. VI, iii. ii. 76 What? Art thou like the Adder waxen deafe? 1610 Holland Camden's Brit. (1637) 183 Cornwall..waxeth smaller and smaller in manner of an horne. 1627 Drayton Agincourt cxliii, Nor aske of God the victory to gaine, Vpon the English wext so poore and fewe. 1632 Lithgow Trav. i. 29 Deuotion waxed scant amongst the Christians. 1712 Steele Spect. No. 276 ¶4 My Daughter Tabitha beginneth to wax wanton. a 1770 Jortin Serm. (1774) I. ii. 30 When..the inward light waxes dim, the faith is gone. 1815 Byron Vis. Belshazzar iii, All bloodless wax'd his look. 1820 Keats Hyperion i. 326 Pale wox I, and in vapours hid my face. 1831 Macaulay Ess., Byron ¶11 The howl of contumely..gradually waxed fainter. 1840 Dickens Old C. Shop xxxviii, Mr. Chuckster waxed wroth at this answer. 1865 Trollope Belton Est. xxiv. 283 Captain Aylmer saw that the man was waxing angry. 1880 W. Watson Prince's Quest (1892) 61 Whereat the eyes of heaven wox thundrous-dim. |
† b. with
n. as complement.
Obs.| c 1300 Havelok 281 Þe kinges douther bigan þriue, And wex þe fayrest woman on liue. c 1350 Will. Palerne 2931 Þe white beres þat waxen seþþe hertes. c 1374 Chaucer Troylus v. 1014 Whan it was woxen eeue. c 1449 Pecock Repr. ii. xvi. 243 Summe othere..weren quycker in natural witt and waxiden better philsophiris. 1477 Earl Rivers (Caxton) Dictes 22 He sawe a peyntour that was waxe a physicien. 1530 Palsgr. 793 Whan any preposycion waxeth an adverbe. 1542 Udall Erasm. Apoph. 334 He weaxed a woondreous buisie medler in all causes. a 1550 A pore helpe 269 in Hazl. E.P.P. III. 262, I feare me he be wext A popistant stout. 1593 Nashe Christs T. M 3, In three Tearmes, of a banqrout he wexeth a great landed man. 1622 Mabbe tr. Aleman's Guzman d'Alf. i. 21 It beginning now to waxe night, they gaue off play. 1869 Thirlwall Serm. Rem. 1878 III. 390 When the grain of mustard seed has waxed a great tree. |
c. with complement an
adv. or a prepositional
phr.| a 1300 Cursor M. 19451 Þan wex þaa wreches vte of wite. c 1350 Will. Palerne 140 He wex to a werwolf. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xi. 111 In a were gan I waxe and with myself to dispute. 1388 Wyclif Mark iv. 32 It waxith in to a tre. c 1400 Destr. Troy 10824 Oft in wanton werkes wex þai with childe. c 1420 Chron. Vilod. 4551 Þe meyst..woxse in to so fayre and so bryȝt a day. 1530 Palsgr. 773/1, I dare eate no crabbes, for my tethe wyll waxe and edge than. 1591 Spenser M. Hubberd 1103 Whereby the Ape in wondrous stomack woxe. 1831 James Phil. Augustus xxvii, It was now waxing towards morning. 1864 Burton Scot Abr. II. i. 78 A dangerous position, apt to wax from pleasant warmth into deadly heat. 1870 M. D. Conway Earthward Pilgr. i. 21 As time waxed on, I perceived that [etc.]. 1888 Stevenson Across the Plains x. (1892) 276 A small taste..waxes with indulgence into an exclusive passion. 1914 S. Phillips in Contemp. Rev. Oct. 552 Must that wistful dawn ne'er wax to noon? |
† d. to wax in age or eld, to advance in years. Similarly,
to wax to man's estate.
Obs.| 1340–70 Alex. & Dind. 943 A weih woxen on elde. c 1385 Chaucer L.G.W. 727 That, as they wex in age, wex here loue. a 1400 St. Alexius (Laud 622) 136 Þe more he wex in elde & lengþe, To seruen god he dude his strengþe. 1588 Greene Pandosto (1607) D 1 b, As it [sc. the child] waxed in age, so it increased in beautie. 1590 Spenser F.Q. ii. x. 20 When her sonne to mans estate did wex. 1916 G. W. Robinson Willibald's Life St. Boniface ii. 31 After he waxed in age..and the glory of boyhood came. |
† e. Of fire.
to wax out: to burn out, be extinguished for want of fuel.
Obs.| c 1400 Melayne 463 The fire wexe owte at þ⊇ laste. 1579 L. Tomson Calvin's Serm. Tim. 686/2 If a fire that hath but little woode, wax out, wee put the brandes together, and blowe it, that it may burne. |
† 10. With complement a numeral: To amount to (a specified number).
Obs.| c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. Wace 13327 A legion ys of folk þat wex Sex þousand, sex hundred sexti & sex. Ibid. 13937. |
▸
intr. To speak or write (increasingly) in the manner specified;
esp. in
to wax lyrical,
to wax eloquent.
Cf. sense 9a.
| 1842 Times 2 Nov. 5/3 The gallant colonel then gallantly waxed eloquent in praise of women. 1892 M. Field et al. Stephania 2, O sorry sight! A Roman Emperor Deigns to wax eloquent, and by persuasion Has oped the city-gates. 1911 G. Cannan tr. R. Rolland Jean-Christophe in Paris 60 He had the genius of taste except at certain moments when the Massenet slumbering in the heart of every Frenchman awoke and waxed lyrical. 1978 E. Blishen Sorry, Dad III. iii. 114 Stationing himself at a window, he would wax more and more satirical and sarcastic about what he could see of the Boltons' domestic arrangements. 1984 C. James Flying Visits 13 The writer becomes less and less inclined to wax sententious. 1996 C. J. Stone Fierce Dancing xii. 184 Debby began waxing lyrical about the food. It was something else she told me. |
▪ V. wax, v.2 (
wæks)
Also 4–5
wexe,
pa. pple. wexed,
-yd,
ywexede.
[f. wax n.1 The
ME. form
wexe may be an umlaut derivative (
= ON. vexa,
OHG. wahsen,
MHG. wihsen mod.G.
wächsen,
wichsen); but this is not certain, because
wex was a frequent form of
wax n.1]
1. a. trans. To cover with a layer of wax; to dress with wax; to polish or stiffen with a dressing of wax. Also with
over.
| a 1380 [see waxed ppl. a.]. c 1391 Chaucer Astrol. ii. §40 Tho tok I & wexede my label in Maner of a peyre tables. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xix. lxi. (1495) 898 Tables ben wexed and dressid wyth wexe and ben planyd. Ibid., For diuers vse lynnen clothes ben wexyd. c 1400 Master of Game (MS. Digby 182) xxi, Þai one manere [of horn] is waxed with grene wex and gretter of sowne. Ibid., A good hunters horne shuld..be wele ywexede, þikker or þinner, after at þe hunter þinketh þat it woll best sowne. 1580 Hollyband Treas. Fr. Tong, Cirer, to waxe. 1615 tr. De Monfart's Surv. E. Indies 40 As a Shoemaker waxeth his thread. 1659 H. Turbervil Walk Knaves Walk 8 You are to take notice..next of the manner, how to wax your winter boots. 1661 [T. Powell] Hum. Industry 56 Smal boards or tables of wood waxed over, were in frequent use among the later Romans to write in. 1825 J. Nicholson Oper. Mech. 745 Many cabinet-makers are contented with waxing common furniture. 1833 [S. Smith] Lett. J. Downing xxii. (1835) 131 With that I wax'd a thread, and got a new button. 1848 Dickens Dombey liv, The floors were waxed and polished. 1863 M. E. Braddon Aurora Floyd iii, The elegant ignoramus whose sole accomplishments consist in parting his hair, waxing his moustaches, and smoking a meerschaum. 1886 J. H. Keene Fishing Tackle 160 Waxing your silk afresh, fasten it with two loops. |
† b. Photogr. To saturate (paper) with wax.
Obs.| 1853 Le Gray's Waxed Paper Process 5 The paper..after the development of the image..does not require to be again waxed to obtain a positive picture. 1856 Orr's Circ. Sci., Pract. Chem. 146 Mode of Waxing the Negatives. |
c. To remove unwanted hair from (legs, etc.) by applying hot wax and then peeling off wax and hairs together.
| 1953 W. P. McGivern Big Heat x. 134 When the boys talk business I go out and get my legs waxed. 1971 Sunday Express (Johannesburg) 28 Mar. (Home Jrnl.) 12/2, I would also like my legs waxed. 1977 J. Didion Bk. Common Prayer v. ix. 232 Carmen Arrellano had been having her legs waxed in the Caribe beauty shop. |
† 2. To stop (an aperture) with or as with wax. Also with
up.
Obs.| 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. v. 351 Alle þat herde þat horne..wissheden it had be wexed with a wispe of firses. 1697 W. Dampier Voy. I. 231 Some of them that had not waxt up their Cartrage or Catouche Boxes, wet all their Powder. 1709 T. Robinson Vind. Mosaick Syst. 91 They..fill their little Cells with Honey, and then do so wax it up, that it may not melt and run out. |
† 3. To join with wax.
Obs. rare.
| 1693 Dryden Ovid's Met. i. Transform. Syrinx 36 He form'd the Reeds, proportion'd as they are: Unequal in their length, and wax'd with care. |
4. Leather-manuf. To dress (a skin) with a mixture of lamp-black, oil, etc.
| 1885 A. Watt Leather Manuf. 348 Bruise on the flesh and grain up, then wax them [sc. the skins]. |
5. To make a gramophone record of (music, etc.); to record.
Cf. wax n.1 11.
slang (chiefly
U.S.).
| 1935 Melody Maker 12 Oct. 11/4 Mario..took his harp to the Columbia Studios, and there he well and truly waxed a couple of the classics of jazz. 1946 [see Dixie2 1 c]. 1954 Cleveland Press 7 Aug. (Home Mag.) 31 Gertrude Berg has waxed a comedy duet with Red Buttons for Columbia records. 1976 Daily Times (Lagos) 13 Aug. 18/2 (Advt.), Another new LP Record waxed by the Celestial Church of Christ Choir. |
▪ VI. wax, v.3 dial. (
wæks)
[f. wax n.3] intr. to wax up, to burst into anger, ‘flare’ up.
| 1859 Dickens Haunted House vii. 33/2 Nay, wench, dunna wax up so; whatten's done, 's done. |
▪ VII. wax, v.4 U.S. colloq. (
wæks)
trans. ‘To beat thoroughly, gain a decisive victory over’ (Funk).
| 1884 A. A. Putnam Ten Years Police Judge xxii. 199 Mr. Bungle..would in nine [out of twelve cases] be waxed but for the commiseration and the magnanimity of [etc.]. 1909 Century Dict., Suppl., Wax, to beat, thrash. |
Restrict
colloq. to sense in
Dict. and add:
b. To kill; to murder.
Cf. waste v. 4 c.
slang (
orig. Mil.).
| 1968 Daily Express 12 Feb. 2/5 The Vietnam slang goes like this... Zap or wax— to kill or destroy. 1979 J. D. MacDonald Green Ripper (1980) xv. 210 ‘So you waxed eight of them?’ ‘Nine. There's one buried over a week ago.’ 1982 L. Block Eight Million Ways to Die (1983) xxxii. 299 Colombians..go for the whole family... A whole family gets waxed because somebody burned somebody else in a coke deal. 1985 ‘J. Godey’ Fatal Beauty ix. 112 Would he wax a couple of cops if they got in his way? |