waxwork

English

Etymology

wax +‎ work

Noun

waxwork (countable and uncountable, plural waxworks)

1. (countable) A figure made of wax, especially an effigy of a famous person.
   • 1885, Gilbert & Sullivan, The Mikado:

     The amateur tenor, whose vocal villainies / All desire to shirk, / Shall during off-hours, / Exhibit his powers / To Madame Tussaud's waxwork.

2. (uncountable) The art of producing such figures.
   • 1926, R. Austin Freeman, The D'Arblay Mystery:

     Waxwork is a fine art, but it differs from all other fine arts in that its main purpose is one that is expressly rejected by all those other arts.

Derived terms

• Roxbury waxwork
• waxworker
• waxwork-man
• waxworks

 

Translations

a wax figure, an effigy of a famous person

• Bulgarian: восъчна фигура f (vosǎčna figura)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 蠟像／蜡像 (zh) (làxiàng)

• Finnish: vahakuva, vahapatsas
• French: personnage en cire m
• German: Wachsfigur (de) f
• Japanese: 蝋人形 (ろうにんぎょう, rōningyō)
• Russian: воскова́я фигу́ра f (voskovája figúra), муля́ж (ru) m (muljáž)
• Thai: หุ่นขี้ผึ้ง (th) (hùn-kîi-pʉ̂ng)

See also

• wax museum

Further reading

• waxwork on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• wax museum on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Category:wax museums on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons