wax
To wax is to polish something using a special substance designed for shining or protecting or to remove unwanted hair by applying a warmed sticky substance to it and then using paper to pull off the hairs that stick to the substance.
(verb)- An example of wax is when you apply polish to the floor or to your car.
- An example of wax is when you remove unwanted eyebrow hair by pulling it out.
Wax is a sticky substance that is made from honeycomb or any substance with a similar feel.
(noun)- An example of wax is the substance produced by a burning candle.
- An example of wax is what you clean out of your ears with a cotton swab.
See wax in Webster's New World College Dictionary
noun
- a plastic, dull-yellow substance secreted by bees for building cells; beeswax: it is hard when cold and easily molded when warm, melts at c. 64.4°C (c. 148°F), cannot be dissolved in water, and is used for candles, modeling, etc.
- any plastic substance like this; specif.,
- paraffin
- a waxlike substance exuded by the ears; earwax; cerumen
- a waxy substance produced by scale insects
- any waxlike substance yielded by plants or animals
- a resinous substance used by shoemakers to rub on thread
- sealing wax
- any of a group of substances with a waxy appearance made up variously of esters, fatty acids, free alcohols, and solid hydrocarbons
Origin: from the wax cylinders formerly used for recording sound
Informal a phonograph record: once common in , to make a phonograph record of
Origin: ME < OE weax, akin to Ger wachs < IE *wokso- < *weg-, to weave, prob. < base *(a)we-, to weave
transitive verb
- to rub, polish, cover, smear, or treat with wax
- to remove unwanted hair from (the body) by applying a hot waxy substance
- Informal to make a phonograph record of
adjective
intransitive verb waxed, waxing
- to grow gradually larger, more numerous, etc.; increase in strength, intensity, volume, etc.: said esp. of the visible face of the moon during the phases after new moon in which the lighted portion is gradually increasing from a thin crescent on the right, as seen from the Northern Hemisphere
- Literary to become; grow: to wax angry
- to speak or express oneself: he waxed on and on about his prowess
Origin: ME waxen < OE weaxan, to grow, akin to Ger wachsen < IE *aweks- < base *aweg-, *aug- > eke, L augere, Gr auxein, to increase
noun
Origin: < ? wax, as in phr. wax angry
See wax in American Heritage Dictionary 4
noun
- a. Any of various natural, oily or greasy heat-sensitive substances, consisting of hydrocarbons or esters of fatty acids that are insoluble in water but soluble in nonpolar organic solvents.b. Beeswax.c. Cerumen.
- a. A solid plastic or pliable liquid substance, such as ozocerite or paraffin, originating from petroleum and found in rock layers and used in paper coating, as insulation, in crayons, and often in medicinal preparations.b. A preparation containing wax used for polishing floors and other surfaces.
- A resinous mixture used by shoemakers to rub on thread.
- A phonograph record.
- Something suggestive of wax in being impressionable or readily molded.
- To coat, treat, or polish with wax.
- Informal To make a phonograph record of.
Origin:
Origin: Middle English
Origin: , from Old English weax
.intransitive verb waxed waxed, wax·ing, wax·es
- To increase gradually in size, number, strength, or intensity.
- To show a progressively larger illuminated area, as the moon does in passing from new to full.
- To grow or become as specified: “could afford … to wax sentimental over their heritage” (John Simon).
Origin:
Origin: Middle English waxen
Origin: , from Old English weaxan; see aug- in Indo-European roots
.See wax in Ologies
Wax
cerography
1. the art or process of writing or engraving on wax.
2. Rare. the art or process of making paintings with colors mixed with beeswax and fixed with heat; encaustic painting. —cerographist, n. —cero-graphic, cerographical, adj.
ceromancy
a form of divination involving dropping melted wax into water.
the art of modeling with wax. —ceroplastic, adj.
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