wax vesta

English

Alternative forms

• wax-vesta

Noun

wax vesta (plural wax vestas)

1. (historical) A type of early safety match having a wax stem and a phosphorus tip.
   • 1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World […], London, New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC:

     Suddenly I remembered that I had a tin box of wax-vestas in my pocket.