wax
English
Beeswax
Pronunciation
- enPR: wăks, IPA: /wæks/, X-SAMPA: /w{ks/
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Audio (US) (file) - Rhymes: -æks
- Homophone: whacks (in accents with the wine-whine merger)
Etymology 1
From Old English wæx, from Proto-Germanic *wahsą, from Proto-Indo-European *wokso-. Cognate with Dutch was, German Wachs, Norwegian voks; and with Lithuanian vaškas, Russian воск
Noun
wax (countable and uncountable; plural waxes)
- Beeswax.
- Earwax.
- Any oily, water-resistant substance; normally long-chain hydrocarbons, alcohols or esters.
- Any preparation containing wax, used as a polish.
- A phonograph record.
Synonyms
- (beeswax): beeswax
- (earwax): cerumen (medical term), earwax
- (polish): polish
- (phonograph record): disc/disk, record
Derived terms
Terms derived from wax (noun)
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Translations
beeswax — see beeswax
earwax — see earwax
oily, water-resistant substance
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preparation containing wax, used as a polish
phonograph record
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.
Translations to be checked
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Telugu: మైనం (mainaM) (1,2); గులిమి (gulimi) (3) |
Adjective
wax (not comparable)
- Made of wax.
Synonyms
Derived terms
See under the noun section above
Translations
made of wax
Verb
wax (third-person singular simple present waxes, present participle waxing, simple past and past participle waxed)
- (transitive) To apply wax to (something, such as a shoe, a floor, a car, or an apple), usually to make it shiny.
- (transitive) To remove hair at the roots from (a part of the body) by coating the skin with a film of wax that is then pulled away sharply.
- (transitive, informal) To defeat utterly.
- (transitive, slang) To kill, especially to murder a person.
- 2005, David L. Robbins, Liberation Road: A Novel of World War II and the Red Ball Express, page 83:
- "I was reassigned over from the 9th when the battalion CO got waxed on the road leading in." Ben kept his dismay to himself. Here was one more officer in the 90th who'd been on the job only hours or days, replacing commanders killed or wounded....
- 2009, Dean R. Koontz and Ed Gorman, Dean Koontz's Frankenstein: City of Night, ISBN 9780553593334, p. 106:
- "You telling me you know who really waxed him and your mom?" / "Yeah," she lied. / "Just who pulled the trigger or who ordered it to be pulled?"
- 2005, David L. Robbins, Liberation Road: A Novel of World War II and the Red Ball Express, page 83:
- (transitive, archaic, usually of a musical or oral performance) To record. [from 1900]
Synonyms
Derived terms
Translations
apply wax to
remove hair from
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.
Translations to be checked
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Esperanto: vaksi |
Etymology 2
From Middle English waxen, from Old English weaxan (“to wax, grow, be fruitful, increase, become powerful, flourish”), from Proto-Germanic *wahsijaną (“to grow”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂weg-, *weks-, *aweks-, *auks- (“to grow, increase”). Cognate with Scots wax (“to grow”), West Frisian waakse (“to grow”), Low German wassen, Dutch wassen (“to grow”), German wachsen (“to grow”), Danish and Norwegian vokse (“to grow”), Swedish växa (“to grow”), Icelandic vaxa (“to grow”), Gothic 𐍅𐌰𐌷𐍃𐌾𐌰𐌽 (wahsjan, “to grow”); and with Ancient Greek ἀέξειν, Latin auxilium. It is in its turn cognate with augeo. See eke.
Verb
wax (third-person singular simple present waxes, present participle waxing, simple past waxed or wex (archaic), past participle waxed or waxen (dialectal or archaic))
- (intransitive, with adjective) To increasingly assume the specified characteristic, become.
- to wax lyrical; to wax eloquent, to wax wode
- 1885, H. Rider Haggard, King Solomon's Mines, page 72:
- The stars grew pale and paler still till at last they vanished ; the golden moon waxed wan, and her mountain ridges stood out against her sickly face
- (intransitive, literary) To grow.
- 1602, William Shakespeare, Hamlet, act 1, sc. 3, lines 11-14,
- For nature, crescent, does not grow alone / In thews and bulks, but, as this temple waxes, / The inward service of the mind and soul / Grows wide withal.
- 1602, William Shakespeare, Hamlet, act 1, sc. 3, lines 11-14,
- (intransitive, of the moon) To appear larger each night as a progression from a new moon to a full moon.
Usage notes
- Older forms are: 2nd per. sing, waxest (archaic), 3rd per. sing. waxeth (archaic), and plural form wexen (obsolete).
- Alternative simple past form is wex (obsolete) and the alternative past participle is waxen (obsolete).
Synonyms
- (to assume specified characteristic): become
Antonyms
Derived terms
terms derived from wax (verb) ("grow or become")
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Related terms
terms related to wax (verb) ("grow, become")
Translations
to assume specified characteristic
literary: grow
of the moon: appear larger each night
Noun
wax (uncountable)
- (rare) The process of growing.
Derived terms
- wax-kernel
- waxless
Translations
Etymology 3
Origin uncertain; probably from phrases like to wax angry, wax wode, and similar (see Etymology 2, above).
Noun
wax (plural waxes)
- (dated, colloquial) An outburst of anger.
- 1970, John Glassco, Memoirs of Montparnasse, New York 2007, p. 161:
- ‘That's him to a T,’ she would murmur; or, ‘Just wait till he reads this’; or, ‘Ah, won't that put him in a wax!’
- 1970, John Glassco, Memoirs of Montparnasse, New York 2007, p. 161:
Derived terms
See also
- waxen-kernel
- waxloke