woodwax ? Obs.
(ˈwʊdwæks)
Also 6 wodwesse, -wosse, 9 dial. woodwish, etc.
[OE. wuduweaxe, f. wudu wood n.1 + *weaxe, presumably f. Teut. waχs- to grow, wax v.1]
= woodwaxen.
| c 1000 Sax. Leechd. II. 66 Wudu weaxe & heᵹerife ᵹecnuwa þa togædere. 1570 Levins Manip. 85/35 Wodwesse, glastum. Ibid. 175/37 Wodwosse, glastum. a 1667 Sir W. Petty in Sprat Hist. Royal Soc. 296 The Yellows are Weld, Wood-wax, and old Fustick. a 1691 Aubrey Nat. Hist. Wilts (1847) 49 In Bradon Forest growes very plentifully rank wood-wax. 1707 Mortimer Husb. 241 Green-weed or Wood-wax. 1824 Mactaggart Gallovid. Encycl. 486 Wudwise, a yellow flower, which grows on bad land, and has a bitter taste. 1845 Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. V. ii. 435 The wood-wax and gorse are very abundant. |
Hence ˈwoodwaxer, one who gathers woodwax.
| 1829 J. L. Knapp Jrnl. Nat. 77 Our poorer people..used to collect it by cart loads..; and the season of ‘woodwaxen’ was a little harvest to them:..the old woodwaxers tell me that [etc.]. |