Wax sb.¹

Forms: 1 wæx, wex, 1, 2 weax, 3–6, 9 dial. wex, 4–6 wexe (5 vexe), 4–7 waxe, (4 waxche, Sc. vax, 5 whax), 5–7 Sc. walx, (6 Sc. valk, waux, waks), 3– wax. [Com. Teut. (not recorded in Goth.): OE. weax neut. = OFris. wax, OS. wahs (LG., Du. was), OHG., MHG. wahs (mod.G. wachs), ON. vax (Sw. vax, Da. vox):—OTeut. *waχso-m.

  Outside Teut. the word occurs as Lith. wāskas, OSl. voskŭ (Russ. воскъ, Pol. wosk, Czech vosk), but prob. adopted from Teut. The root may be identical with Teut. *waχs- to grow (WAX v.¹); it seems not impossible that the etymological sense may have been ‘that which grows (in the honeycomb).’ The view now most in favor refers the word to the Indogermanic root *weg- to weave, found in OIrish figim I weave, L. vēlum veil, sail (believed to be from pre-historic *veg-slom), and in certain Teut. words (see WICK sb.¹); the advocates of this etymology appeal to the apparent semasiological parallel of G. wabe, honeycomb, presumed to be from the root of weben WEAVE v.¹ Some other hypotheses have been proposed, but they are all unsatisfactory with regard either to form or meaning.]

  1.  A substance (also distinctively called BEESWAX) produced by bees, and used by them as the material of the honeycomb. It is a secretion of special glands in the abdomen, mixed with the secretion of the salivary glands in the process of mastication; when slightly warmed it is readily molded into any shape, and when heated to about 150° melts into a liquid; in its natural state it is of a bright yellow color. Butter of wax: see BUTTER sb.¹ 3. Cf. war-butter in 12.

  Chemically beeswax is a combination of palmitic, cerotic, and melissic acids with myricil alcohol.

805–1375.  [see 2].

c. 1386.  Chaucer, Cant. T., Prol. 675. This Pardoner hadde heer as yelow as wex.

1398.  Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XIX. lxi. (1495), 897. Wexe is the drastes of hony.

c. 1440.  Pallad. on Husb., I. 1023. Of tyme is wex and hony maad swettest.

1526.  Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 165 b. Lyke as y^e hony is closed within the come of waxe.

c. 1560.  A. Scott, Poems, i. 105. As beis takkis walx and honye of þe floure.

1601.  Shaks., All’s Well, I. ii. 65. Since I not wax nor honie can bring home.

a. 1679.  Sir J. Moore, England’s Interest (1703), 137. Break the Combs … into three parts. The first Honey and Wax, the 2d. Honey and Wax with Sandarack, the 3d. dry Wax without Honey.

1792.  J. Hunter, in Phil. Trans., LXXXII. 145. The wax is formed by the bees themselves; it may be called an external secretion of oil, and I have found that it is formed between each scale of the under side of the belly.

1834.  McMurtrie, Cuvier’s Anim. Kingd., 433. Wax, according to the experiments of the same naturalists, is nothing more than elaborated honey.

1871.  Staveley, Brit. Insects, 248. The substances or materials collected or produced by Bees are four in number—honey, bee-bread, wax, and propolis.

  † b.  Rough wax: a term formerly applied to the pollen adhering to the legs of bees, which was erroneously supposed to be the crude substance from which the wax was elaborated. Obs.

1744.  trans. Bazin’s Nat. Hist. Bees, 43. This dust then, which falls upon these stamina of flowers, is the sole matter, of which wax is made, which I shall call rough wax.

1792.  J. Hunter, in Phil. Trans., LXXXII. 144. The substance brought in on their legs, which is the farina of the flowers of plants, is, in common, I believe, imagined to be the materials of which the wax is made, for it is called by most the wax.

  2.  Beeswax as melted down, bleached, or otherwise prepared for some special purpose in the arts, in medicine or in manufactures.

  The more prominent uses are the following: as material for candles and tapers, as a plastic material for modelling, as a component of plasters, as a vehicle for encaustic painting and as a protective coating to exclude the air.

805–10.  in Birch, Cartul. Sax. (1885), I. 457. Mon ðaet weax agæfe to cirican.

971.  Blickl. Hom., 129. Swa swa eles ʓecynd bið þæt be beorhtor scineþ þonne wex on sceafte.

c. 1200.  Trin. Coll. Hom., 47. Alse wex on þe candele sene, þe wueke wiðinnen unsene.

c. 1205.  Lay., 2370. Muchel win, muchel wex, muchel wunsum þing.

1340–70.  Alex. & Dind., 236. While þe weke & þe waxe vn-wasteþ lasteþ.

1375.  Barbour, Bruce, XI. 119. Vyne and vax, schot and vittale.

1402.  in E. E. Wills, 11. ij torchis of wax.

1406.  Hoccleve, La Male Regle, 254. Alle eres of men of his compaignie, With wex be stoppe leet, for þat they noght Hir song sholde heere.

a. 1425.  trans. Arderne’s Treat. Fistula, etc., 81. If þou wilt make it in maner of one emplastre, putte þer-to wax and blak pich.

1597.  Jas. VI., Dæmonol., II. v. 44. To some others at these times hee teacheth, how to make Pictures of waxe or clay: That by the rosting thereof, the persones that they beare the name of, may be continuallie melted or dryed awaie by continuall sicknesse.

1601.  Holland, Pliny, XXXV. xi. II. 546. As touching the feat of setting colours with wax, and enamelling with fire, who first began and devised the same, it is not known.

1612.  Sc. Bk. Rates, in Halyburton’s Ledger (1867), 293. Candles of walx the pound weght thairof, iiii s.

1638.  Junius, Paint. Ancients, 133. There should be made three images of wax, in the place of three men that were to be offered unto Juno.

1676.  Wiseman, Surg., I. vi. 40. A Cerote of Wax and Oyl over the Leg.

1702.  in Ashton, Soc. Life Reign Q. Anne (1882), I. 283. Effigies … Curiously done in Wax to the Life.

1707–21.  Mortimer, Husb., II. 255. Cleft Grafting…. Cover the Head of the Stock with temper’d Clay, or with soft Wax.

1768.  W. Lewis, Mat. Med. (ed. 2), 202. The chief medicinal use of wax is in plasters, unguents, and other like external applications.

1787.  Trans. Soc. Arts, V. 104. The Art of Painting in Wax as described in the following letter and account.

1789.  Mrs. Piozzi, Journ. France & Italy, II. 227. They … I think excel Mrs. Wright’s finest figures in wax.

1803.  Nicholson’s Jrnl. Nat. Philos. (8⁰), IV. 176. A stream of wax has just overflowed the cup of the wax candle by which I have been reading.

1815.  S. Parkes, Chem. Ess., II. 148. In some particular styles of work the operation of certain colours is resisted by means of stopping out with wax.

1832.  Carlyle, Ess., Death Goethe (1840), IV. 118. The true Sovereign of the world, who moulds the world like soft wax, according to his pleasure.

1840.  Dickens, Old C. Shop, xxviii. Children, who … were fully impressed with the belief that her grandfather was a cunning device in wax.

1875.  Knight, Dict. Mech., 2312/2. Cover the inside of the [plaster] sections with a shell of wax.

  b.  As used for the coating of writing tablets.

1533.  Bellenden, Livy (S.T.S.), I. 55. Als richtuislie as þai ar here Ingravin in þir tabillis or walx.

1565.  Cooper, Thesaurus, s.v. Cera, Ceræ credere aliquid, Plaut. To wryte in tables of waxe.

1854.  Fairholt, Dict. Terms Art, s.v. Encaustic, The artists of antiquity … used the stylus and wax for tablet-pictures and architectural decorations.

  c.  A particular variety of wax. Usually with qualifying adj., as bleached, white, yellow wax. See also VIRGIN WAX.

1545.  Raynalde, Byrth Mankynde, 118. If the child be in great heate annoynte hym with the oyle of violettes, or with oyle olyfe, tempered with a lyttell whyte wexe.

1601.  Holland, Pliny, XXI. xiv. II. 96. The best wax is that which is called Punica,… and is white. The next in goodnesse is the yellowest,… such commeth from the countrey of Pontus.

1630.  in Abridgm. Specif. Patents, Oils, etc. (1873), 2. To make yellow wax white verie speedily.

1768.  W. Lewis, Mat. Med. (ed. 2), 201. Cera alba … White wax: the yellow wax artificially bleached. Ibid., Cera flava … Yellow wax; in the state wherein it is obtained from the combs.

1811.  A. T. Thomson, Lond. Disp. (1818), 112. Unbleached Wax…. Yellow wax is prepared immediately from the honeycomb.

1843.  R. J. Graves, Syst. Clin. Med., xxix. 390. The applications in use were yellow wax ointment and nitrate of silver.

  † d.  Man of wax: a waxen image of a man. Obs.

Cf. 1439.  E. E. Wills, 118. Allso I woll the great Image of wex that is at London be offred to our lady of Worcestre.

1500.  Will of Rigawell (Somerset Ho., Blamyr 23 b). I wille that my seid executors … shalle offre for me a man a [sic] of wax … at our lady of Walsyngham … also at the rode of Berkles a man of waxe.

  † e.  pl. Pieces of wax. nonce-use.

1550.  Cranmer, Def. Sacram., III. 81. As two waxes, that be molten & put togither, they close so in one, that euery part of the one, is ioyned to euery parte of the other.

  f.  An object made of wax. (a) A wax candle. (b) A figure or model in wax.

  (a)  1844.  J. T. Hewlett, Parsons & W., xlix. A resplendent October moon … seemed to impose upon us the notion that it would be a sacrilege against Diana if we were to shut out her rays, and substitute a pair of waxes for her clear beams.

1871.  Besant & Rice, Ready-money Mort., iii. Don’t waste the light, Dick. You’re burning one of your poor aunt’s waxes.

  (b)  1865.  Tylor, Early Hist. Man., vi. 125. A mediæval sermon speaks of baptizing a ‘wax’ to bewitch with.

1906.  Westm. Gaz., 9 May, 8/2. The original ‘waxes’ of Flaxman, Angelino, Pacetti, and other famous designers, from which the moulds for the familiar classical decorations were made.

  3.  In figurative and similative uses, referring to the easy fusibility of wax, its softness and readiness to receive impressions, its adhesiveness, etc. Nose of wax: see NOSE sb. 4.

c. 825.  Vesp. Psalter, xxi. 15. Ʒeworden wes heorte min swe swe wæx ʓemaeltende in midle wombe minre.

c. 1000.  Ags. Ps. (Th.), lvii. 7. Swa weax melteþ, ʓif hit byð wearmum neah fyre ʓefæstnad.

c. 1375.  Sc. Leg. Saints, iv. (James), 266. Þe stane … wex nesch as it wax war.

1471.  Ripley, Comp. Alch., I. vi. in Ashmole (1652), 130. Fluxyble as Wex.

1546.  J. Heywood, Prov., II. vi. (1867), 61. At my wil I wend she should haue wrought, like wax.

1592.  Shaks., Rom. & Jul., III. iii. 126. Thy Noble shape is but a forme of waxe, Digressing from the Valour of a man.

1598.  E. Guilpin, Skial. (1878), 58. He hath a wit of waxe, fresh as a rose.

1608.  Dekker, 2nd Pt. Honest Wh., I. (1630), B 3. Hip. I’m glad you are wax, not marble: you are made Of mans best temper.

1612.  Beaum. & Fl., Coxcomb, II. ii. I’ll work her as I go, I know shee’s wax, now.

a. 1700.  B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, Pliant,… Wax to every Thumb.

1717.  Pope, Hor. Ep., II. ii. 9. He’s your slave, for twenty pound a year, Mere wax as yet, you fashion him with ease.

1748.  Richardson, Clarissa (1768), VII. 365. When my mind is made such wax, as to be fit to take what impression she pleases to give it.

1817.  Byron, Beppo, xxxiv. His heart was one of those which most enamour us, Wax to receive, and marble to retain.

1875.  Stubbs, Const. Hist., II. xiv. 99. John’s heart was of millstone, Henry’s of wax.

  b.  Phrases: Close, tight, neat as wax; to stick (to one) like wax; to fit like wax.

1772.  Cumberland, Fashionable Lover, III. 35. But you mun be as close as wax, d’ye see.

1809.  Byron, Lines to Mr. Hodgson, 30. All are wrangling, Stuck together close as wax.

1850.  Susan Warner, Wide Wide World, xvi. The furniture was common, but neat as wax.

1859.  Lytton, What will he do, IV. xiv. ‘Cabined, cribbed, confined,’ in a coat that fits him like wax.

1865.  Dickens, Mut. Fr., IV. iv. Bella and John Rokesmith followed; Gruff and Glum stuck to them like wax.

1898.  N. Gould, Landed at Last, v. 52. Not much chance of drawing Sim Sharples when he’s alone. He’s as close as wax, and so is Sam Rogers.

1902.  [see TIGHT a. 5].

  c.  Man, lad of wax: used as a term of emphatic commendation. Now arch. and dial. (see Eng. Dial. Dict.)

  The origin of this expression is not clear. It may have meant ‘as faultless as if modelled in wax’ (cf. 2 d.). Some would refer it to WAX sb.²

1592.  Shaks., Rom. & Jul., I. iii. 76. Why hee’s a man of waxe.

1607.  Dekker & Webster, West-w. Hoe, II. i. Hees a Knight made out of waxe.

1611.  Beaum. & Fl., Philaster, I. i. Oh! ’tis a Prince of wax.

1612.  Field, Woman is Weathercock, I. B 4 b. By Ioue it is a little man of wax.

1821.  W. T. Moncrieff, Tom & Jerry, III. iii. A glass of good max … Wou’d have made them, like us, lads of wax.

1840.  Peter Parley’s Ann., I. 131. The shoemaker … surveyed the Prince from top to bottom. ‘No tailor could do that,’ said he; ‘he must be a lad of wax.’

1858.  Trollope, Dr. Thorne, iv. All right, my lad of wax.

1880.  Blackmore, Mary Anerley, xxiii. Could any lad of wax put up with this, least of all a daring mariner?

  4.  In early use, beeswax (or a mixture of this with other substances) as employed to receive the impression of a seal; in later use, a compound, chiefly consisting of lac, serving the same purpose: = SEALING-WAX.

971.  Blickl. Hom., 205. Þa fotlastas wæron swutole & ʓesyne on þæm stane, swa hie on wexe wæron aðyde.

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 557. Als prient of seel in wax es thrist Þer in he has his lic[nes] fest.

c. 1340.  Hampole, Psalter iv. 7. Þe prynt we bere of þ^t light as þe wax does of þe sele.

1398.  Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XIX. lxi. (1495), 898. Preuyte is hydde vnder wexe: and pryueleges be confermyd with wexe.

c. 1450.  Cov. Myst. (1841), 34. Loo! here is wax fful redy dyght, Sett on ȝour sele anon ful ryght.

1511–2.  Act 3 Hen. VII., c. 6 § 1. The Alnager … shall … not put to eny suche clothes eny seales of wexe in any wise.

1535.  W. Stewart, Cron. Scot. (Rolls), III. 464. Brekand promit to him befoir he maid In writ and walx, wnder thair seillis braid.

1560.  Daus, trans. Sleidane’s Comm., 119. For al the sorte of them occupie waxe … in sealyng their letters.

1588.  Shaks., L. L. L., IV. i. 59. We will reade it, I sweare. Breake the necke of the Waxe, and euery one giue eare. Ibid. (1593), Lucr., 1245. No more then waxe shall be accounted euill, wherein is stampt the semblance of a Deuill.

1607.  Middleton, Michaelmas Term, IV. i. Hee will neuer trust his land in Waxe and Parchment as many Gentlemen haue done before him.

1609.  Skene, Reg. Maj., Forme of Proces, 120. The deposition … sould be stampit and sealit be the Lords examinatours, with seale and walx, and sould not be opened at the secund or thrid examination.

1622.  J. Taylor (Water P.), Farew. Tower Bottles, A 3. Bound fast in Bonds in Parchment and with waxe.

1676.  Wycherley, Pl. Dealer, IV. i. O do not squeeze Wax, Son; rather go to Ordinaries, and Baudy-houses, than squeeze Wax.

1717.  Prior, To Harley, 1. Pen, ink, and wax, and paper send.

1761.  Colman, Jealous Wife, I. 14. Maj. A Letter!—Hum—A suspicious Circumstance to be sure!—What, and the Seal a True Lover’s Knot now, hey!… or possibly the Wax bore the industrious Impression of a Thimble.

1818.  Cruise, Digest (ed. 2), IV. 32. One piece of wax may serve for all the grantors, &c. … if every one of them put his seal upon the same piece of wax.

1818.  Byron, Juan, I. cxcviii. The seal a sun-flower,… The wax was superfine, its hue vermilion.

  b.  With designation of color. See also GREEN WAX.

1485.  Nottingham Rec., III. 230. For rede wax to seale þe endentures.

1496.  Acta Dom. Conc., II. 19. Ane decrete of the Lordis under the quhite walx.

1532.  Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot. (1905), VI. 50. For rede waks and quhite to sele the citationis.

1641.  ‘Smectymnuus,’ Vind. Answ. Humb. Rem., § 16. 218. The Greene Wax and Red Wax of the Bishops.

1653.  in Verney Mem. (1907), I. 525. Stone Bottles with White Wine. They are all sealed with Black Wax.

1712.  Steele, Spect., No. 431, ¶ 3. I then nibbled all the red Wax of our last Ball-Tickets, and three weeks after the black Wax from the Burying-Tickets of the old Gentleman.

  † c.  Hard wax = SEALING-WAX. Obs.

1603.  R. Johnson, Kingd. & Commw., 35. The Ilands affoorde plenty of hides, cotten,… hard wax and pearles.

1616.  B. Jonson, Devil an Ass, V. i. My purse, my seales, My hard-wax, and my table-bookes.

1660.  F. Brooke, trans. Le Blanc’s Trav., ix. 26. Laca d’Alaca … Of this is likewise made Spanish hard wax.

a. 1674.  Clarendon, Hist. Reb., XIV. § 139. A clean piece of paper sealed with three impressions of an antique head in hard wax.

  5.  Applied to artificial compounds having the properties of wax, and substituted for it in various applications.

1763.  W. Lewis, Commerc. Phil.-Techn., 78. The gilding wax is composed of bees-wax, red ochre or ruddle, verdegris, vitriol or alum, and sometimes other additions.

  6.  Any of a class of substances, found in nature in greater or less purity, including beeswax and other compounds resembling it in general properties and (more or less) in chemical composition. In Chem. properly restricted to those ‘waxes’ of animal and vegetable origin which, like beeswax, are composed of fatty acids and alcohols. The mineral ‘waxes’ are hydrocarbons.

  a.  A vegetable product obtained from various trees and plants.

1799.  Med. Jrnl., I. 268. The matter of wax, as forming an ingredient in many vegetables, is discoverable, partly from their shining surface, partly from a certain flexibility in such bodies.

1803.  Nicholson’s Jrnl. Nat. Philos. (8⁰), IV. 187. The light matter which is called the down of fruits, which silvers the surface of prunes and other fruits, is wax.

1813.  Sir H. Davy, Agric. Chem., iii. (1814), 96. Wax is found in a number of vegetables, it is procured in abundance from the berries of the wax myrtle, it may likewise be obtained from the leaves of many trees.

1839.  Ure, Dict. Arts, etc., s.v., Wax exists also as a vegetable product, and may, in this point of view, be regarded as a concrete fixed oil. It forms a part of the green fecula of many plants, particularly of the cabbage; it may be extracted from the pollen of most flowers; as also from the skins of plums, and many stone fruits. It constitutes a varnish upon the upper surface of the leaves of many trees, and it has been observed in the juice of the cow-tree. The berries of the Myrica angustifolia, latifolia, as well as the cerifera, afford abundance of wax.

1880.  Alcock, in Encycl. Brit., XIII. 590/2. The Urushi tree growing in Japan (the fruit of which yields the vegetable wax).

1887.  Moloney, Forestry W. Africa, 461. Gums and Resins, Vegetable Waxes.

  b.  A substance resembling beeswax secreted or produced by various species of scale-insects. Sometimes called Chinese wax. Also ‘the product of some other homopterous insects.’ (Cent. Dict.)

1802.  Bingley, Anim. Biog. (1805), III. 290. To their [the larvæ of the cicada] labours the Chinese are indebted for the fine white wax that is so much esteemed in the East-Indies. They form a sort of white grease which attaches to the branches of trees, hardens there, and becomes wax.

1815.  Kirby & Sp., Entomol., x. (1818), I. 328. In China wax is also produced by another insect, which … seems to be a species of Coccus. Ibid., 331. Early in the spring vast numbers of these caterpillars [of Phalæna ceraria] collect on the branches of the Chila, where they form their cells of a kind of soft white wax or resin…. This wax, which is at first very white, but by degrees becomes yellow and finally brown, is collected in autumn by the inhabitants, who boil it in water, and make it up into little cakes for market.

1852.  W. Gregory, Hand-bk. Org. Chem. (ed. 3), 247. Chinese Wax.

1876.  Westwood, in Trans. Entom. Soc. Lond., 521. Now this ‘cottony’ covering was doubtless formed of the wax secreted by the Fulgora.

1899.  D. Sharp, Insects, II. 575. A great many [of the Fulgoridae] … have the curious power of excreting large quantities of a white flocculent wax. Ibid., 597. Ceroplastes coriferus, a Lecaniid, produces white wax in India…. The white wax of China is understood to be produced by another Lecaniid, Ericerus pela.

  c.  A mineral product somewhat resembling beeswax. Fossil or mineral wax = OZOCERITE. Paraffin wax: see PARAFFIN 4.

1838.  T. Thomson, Chem. Org. Bodies, 448. Fossil wax of Moldavia.

1842.  Francis, Dict. Arts, etc., Wax, Mineral, a bituminous substance, found at the foot of the Carpathian mountains, near Slarick.

1868.  Watts, Dict. Chem. (1877), V. 1037. Wax, Fossil. Syn. with Ozocerite.

  d.  gen.

1866.  Watts, Dict. Chem. (1877), IV. 322. Ozocerite … is like a resinous wax in consistence and translucency. Ibid. (1868), V. 1037. Japan-wax … is not a true wax, but a glyceride.

  7.  = EAR-WAX.

[1398–1614:  see EAR-WAX].

1706.  Phillips (ed. Kersey), Cerumen, the filth or Wax of the Ear, which serves to hinder Dust, Motes, or any little Creatures from getting into it.

1889.  L. Humphry, Man. Nursing (1892), 216. When there is hard wax blocking up the canal [of the ear].

  8.  A thick resinous composition used by shoemakers for rubbing their thread. More fully cobblers’, shoemakers’ wax: see COBBLER, SHOEMAKER.

1622.  Massinger & Decker, Virg. Martyr, III. iii. Long I cannot last, for all sowterly waxe of comfort melting away, and misery taking the length of my foote, it bootes not me to sue for life.

1837.  Kirkbride, North. Angler, 11. The amateur … must … be provided with … shoe-maker’s wax. I prepare my own wax,… by boiling a little pitch and rosin together,… and tempering it with a very little tallow.

1885.  Leno, Boot & Shoemaking, 222. Wax that will work up into the pure bronze colour so much liked by shoemakers may be made of 4 lbs. resin, 1 lb. pitch, 4 ounces beeswax, 3 ounces tallow.

  9.  U.S. A thick syrup produced by boiling down the sap of the sugar-maple tree, cooling on ice, etc. (Cent. Dict.)

1845.  S. Judd, Margaret, II. i. [Making maple sugar] The ‘wax’ is freely distributed to be cooled on lumps of snow or the axe-head.

  10.  Mining. (See quot.)

1883.  Gresley, Gloss. Coal-mining, Wax (Leicester.) soft or puddled clay used for dams or stoppings, and in which the colliers stick and carry about their candles in the mine.

  11.  attrib. and Comb. a. Attrib. (quasi-adj.) with the sense ‘composed of wax.’ (See also WAX-TAPER.)

1585.  Higins, Junius’ Nomencl., 474/2. Ceroplastes,… maker of wax images.

1685.  G. Sinclair, Satans Invis. World, 3. This woman … had formed an Wax-Picture, with pins in the side.

1811.  A. T. Thomson, Lond. Disp. (1818), 714. Wax Plaster.

1825.  in R. W. Goulding, Louth Old Corpor. Rec. (1891), 185. By Cash of Madame Tussaud for 5 weeks use of the Mansion House for her Exhibitⁿ of Wax Figures, 9 19 6.

1846.  Dickens, Pict. Italy, Lyons, etc. There was a wax saint, in a little box … with a glass front to it.

1847.  Ann. Reg., 20. A little box of about a dozen wax lucifer matches.

1849.  Christmas, Cradle of Twin Giants, II. iv. I. 271. An empty bier, surrounded by an hundred wax-torches.

1853.  C. C. Felton, Fam. Lett., viii. (1865), 61. The oddest thing of all is a wax figure of Frederic the Great.

1854.  Poultry Chron., II. 105. Some freak of wax-fruit modelling.

1858.  Simmonds, Dict. Trade, Vesta, a kind of wax match.

1870.  Bowen, Logic, xi. 353. It may be only a wax counterfeit.

1892.  Photogr. Ann., 45. A wax vesta which is lit and the head knocked off.

1914.  ‘Ian Hay,’ Knt. on Wheels, xx. His wife kept wax fruit under a glass case in her parlour window.

  b.  simple attrib., ‘of or pertaining to wax,’ as wax-chip, -solution, -spot.

1859.  Habits of Gd. Society, xiii. 336. After the Tuileries’ balls, we often returned with complete epaulettes of wax-spots on our shoulders, if in moments of carelessness we had stood under the chandeliers.

1889.  Anthony’s Photogr. Bull., II. 241. A wax solution or wax chips melted by a hot iron.

  c.  objective, as wax-bearer, manufacturer, -modeller, † -nibbler, producer; wax-modelling vbl. sb.; wax-bearing. -forming, -producing, -secreting ppl. adjs. Also WAX-MAKER, -MAKING.

1577.  trans. Bullinger’s Decades, V. iii. (1592), 884. The Acoluthes say they are *waxe-bearers, because they carrie waxe-candles.

1796.  Marshall, Planting, II. 232. The Candleberry Myrtle, or *Wax-bearing Myrick.

1802.  Bingley, Anim. Biog. (1805), III. 289. The *Wax-forming Cicada.

1858.  Simmonds, Dict. Trade, *Wax-manufacturer. Ibid., *Wax-modeller.

1850.  Ogilvie, *Wax-modelling.

1712.  Steele, Spect., No. 431, ¶ 3. Chalk-lickers, *Wax-nibblers, Coal-scranchers, [etc.].

1889.  Hardwicke’s Sci.-Gossip, XXV. 131. Insects … highly prized as *wax-producers.

1861.  Hulme, trans. Moquin-Tandon, II. iii. 206. Bees are the principal *wax-producing animals.

1881.  Globe Encycl., VI. 484. The *wax-secreting glands [in the bee].

  d.  instrumental, as wax-coated, -composed, -erected, -jointed, -lighted, -polished, -rubbed, -tipped, -topped adj.

1875.  Knight, Dict. Mech., 2748/2. A machine for preparing *wax-coated matches for dipping.

a. 1642.  Sir F. Kynaston, Leoline & Sydanis, 1874. His *wax-composed wings unfeathered were.

a. 1718.  Parnell, Hesiod, 131. Thus in a thousand *wax-erected forts A loitering race the painful bee supports.

1846.  Prowett, Prometh. Bound, 27. While murmurs ever and anon From his *wax-jointed reed the same low sleepy drone.

1839.  Hood, Lines to Friend at Cobham, 17. You’ll sometimes have *wax-lighted rooms.

1866.  J. B. Rose, trans. Ovid’s Met., 245. Chestnut bowls, *wax-polished was their wood.

1598.  E. Guilpin, Skial. (1878), 26. Like a *wax-rubd Citty roome.

1898.  Conan Doyle, Trag. Korosko, i. He had … a small *wax-tipped moustache.

1822.  W. Irving, Bracebridge Hall (1823), I. 113. The Stout Gentleman and his *wax-topped boots.

  e.  similative, as wax finish; with adjs. denoting color, as wax-brown, -red, -white, -yellow; also wax-like adj.

1837.  W. Phillips, Brit. Discomyc., 70. Cup medium size,… pale *wax-brown.

1897.  C. T. Davis, Manuf. Leather (ed. 2), 464. The making of a *wax finish on chrome-tanned horse hide butts.

1748.  Richardson, Clarissa (1768), III. 27. Her *wax-like flesh … answers for the soundness of her health.

1876.  Coleridge, Statesman’s Man., 4. We … need not be surprised at the fact, that a jealous priesthood should have ventured to represent the applicability of the Bible to all the wants and occasions of men as a wax-like pliability to all their fancies and prepossessions.

1862.  Miller, Elem. Chem., Org. (ed. 2), 474. If its chloride be mixed with a solution of bichloride of platinum it yields a wax-like mass.

1885.  Cornhill Mag., March, 284. A lovely … plant with masses of waxlike lilac blossom.

1899.  J. Hutchinson, in Archives Surg., X. Descr. Pl. xvii. The greater part of the hand is of wax-like pallor.

1592.  Shaks., Ven. & Ad., 516. Which purchase if thou make, for feare of slips, Set thy seale manuell, on my *wax-red lips.

1890.  Kipling, Life’s Handicap, Incarn. Krishna Mulvaney, 29. My face was *wax-white, an’ at the worst I must ha’ looked like a ghost.

1805.  T. Weaver, trans. Werner’s Ext. Charact. Fossils, 58. *Wax-yellow [G. wachsgelb] is a light honey-yellow, mixed with a little light ashes-grey.

  f.  in parasynthetic formations, as wax-featured, -headed, † -hearted adjs.

1612.  T. Taylor, Comm. Titus i. 11. (1619), 227. How many who haue seemed waxe-hearted Christians, soft and pliable.

1913.  Mrs. E. Wharton, Custom of Country, II. xii. 156. A showy Parisianized figure, with a small wax-featured husband.

1914.  Glasgow News, 22 Dec., 4. The map was bristling with wax-headed pins of great variety in size and colour. They represented army units.

  12.  Special comb.: † wax boot, a boot made of waxed leather, for walking in marshy ground; wax-bush, the plant Cuphea viscosissima; wax-butter = butter of wax (see quot.); wax-cloth, cloth coated with wax as a protection from wet; also, oil-cloth for covering floors or tables; wax-cluster Austral., the plant Gualtheria hispida; wax-colo(u)r, (a) a pigment ground with wax for encaustic painting; (b) the yellow color of wax; hence wax-colo(u)red a.; † wax-comb, a honeycomb; wax-creeper S. African, a name of two plants with wax-like flowers, Hoya carnosa and Microloma tenuifolium; wax-cup, the hollow at the top of a burning wax candle; wax-end, thread coated with cobblers’ wax, used by shoemakers; hence wax-ended a., bound with wax-ends; † wax-farthing, a farthing paid by parishioners at Easter to provide wax candles for use in church; wax-gland, a gland (in certain insects) secreting wax; wax-hair, one of the long hairs occurring on the bodies of the young of Psyllidæ or flea-lice; † wax-house, a building in a monastery where wax candles were made; wax-insect, an insect producing wax; also attrib.; wax lathe Watchmaking, a lathe in which the object to be turned is fastened with shellac or sealing-wax; wax-leather, leather ‘waxed’ or finished on the ‘flesh’ side; also attrib.; † wax-man, the officer of a trade guild who collected the contributions of the members for the wax candles to be used in the processions; wax-moth, a moth whose larva preys on the honeycomb; wax-mold, † (a) a mold for running melted wax into; (b) a mold made of wax; wax-myrtle = WAX-BERRY a; wax-nose, a ‘nose of wax’ (see NOSE sb. 4); hence wax-nosed a.; wax-oil Chem. (see quot.); † wax-opal (see quot.); wax-painting, encaustic painting; wax-palm, a name for two S. American wax-yielding palms, Ceroxylon andicola and Corypha or Copernica cerifera; wax-paper (see quot.); wax pear, a variety of pear of a wax-like color; wax pigment, a pigment prepared with wax; wax-pine, wax-pink (see quots.); wax-pocket Ent., each of the sacs on the abdomen of the bee, for receiving the wax secreted by the wax-glands; wax rose, a variety of rose whose petals have a waxy appearance; † wax shoe, a shoe made of waxed leather (cf. wax boot); † wax-silver, money paid by parishioners at Easter for wax candles to be used in the church; wax tablet, a board coated with wax, to be written upon with a stylus; wax-weed = wax-bush; wax-worm, the larva of the wax-moth.

1676.  Shadwell, Virtuoso, II. 29. ’Twill be as common to buy a pair of Wings to fly to the World in the Moon, as to buy a pair of *Wax Boots to ride into Sussex with.

1845–50.  Mrs. Lincoln, Lect. Bot., II. 96. Cuphea viscosissima (*wax-bush).

1868.  Watts, Dict. Chem. (1877), V. 1036. Beeswax is decomposed by dry distillation, giving off a product which forms, on cooling, a white buttery mass, called *wax-butter, or Butyrum ceræ.

1826.  Scott, Bl. Dwarf, i. The first … having a hat covered with *wax-cloth,… and dreadnought overalls.

1834.  Carlyle, Lett. to Mrs. Austin (Thorpe’s Catal., 1913). Some sort of wax-cloth for a lobby.

1868.  Chamb. Encycl., X. 111/2. Wax-cloth, a name sometimes given, but very erroneously, to Floor-cloth (q.v.).

1834.  J. Ross, Van Diemen’s Land Ann., 133. Gaultheria hispida. The *wax cluster, abundant in the middle region of Mount Wellington.

1854.  Fairholt, Dict. Terms Art, s.v. Wax Painting, In Encaustic Painting, the *wax colours were burnt into the ground by means of a hot iron.

1901.  Macm. Mag., April, 439/2. His sun-burned face turned wax-colour.

1842.  Loudon, Suburban Hort., 581. Varieties of cornel … with *wax-coloured fruit.

1375.  Barbour, Bruce, XI. 368. Thai mycht liknyt be Till ane *vax-cayme that beis mais.

1890.  Annie Martin, Home Life Ostrich Farm, 20. First and loveliest among them all is the little *‘wax-creeper,’ than which tiny as it is, I do not think a more perfect flower could be imagined.

1800.  Herschel, in Phil. Trans., XC. 463. That the *wax-cup of the candle be kept clean, and never suffered to run over.

1825.  Brockett, N. C. Gloss., *Wax-end, the waxed thread used by cordwainers.

1838.  Dickens, O. Twist, vii. ‘I will not, sir,’ replied the beadle, adjusting the wax-end which was twisted round the bottom of his cane for purposes of parochial flagellation.

1888.  Fenn, Dick o’ the Fens, 68. I could mend all this in less than an hour with some wax-ends and a brad-awl.

1838.  Dickens, Nickleby, xiii. A fearful instrument of flagellation, strong, supple, *wax-ended, and new.

c. 1588.  in Rel. Ant., I. 255. Every house payd at Easter … j farthynge called a *waxfarthinge.

1899.  D. Sharp, Insects, II. 589. Certain gall-dwelling Aphidae … possess numerous *wax glands. Ibid., 580. In these earlier stages the body [of various Psyllidae] bears long hairs called *wax-hairs.

1385–6.  Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees), 391. In factura unius camini in le *Waxhous. Ibid. (1472–3), 413. Cum emendacione unius patelle de le waxhouse, 14d.

1815.  Kirby & Sp., Entomol., x. (1818), I. 329. This account is in the main confirmed by Geomelli Careri, except that he calls the *wax-insect a worm which bores to the pith of certain trees.

1857.  Fortune, Resid. among Chinese, 147. The wax-insect tree is no doubt a species of ash (fraxinus).

1881.  Globe Encycl., VI. 484/1. The Hemipterous family Coccidæ includes the chief wax insects, familiarly known as bark lice.

1884.  F. J. Britten, Watch & Clockm., 139. For many operations required in watch jobbing Mr. Ganney recommends the *wax or cement lathe.

1711.  Steele, Spect., No. 48, ¶ 4. I am mounted in high-heel’d Shoes with a glased *Wax-leather Instep.

1852.  Morfit, Tanning & Currying (1853), 152. Wax leather is blackened in the flesh.

1885.  H. M. Newhall in Harper’s Mag., Jan., 278/1. Finished wax leather, the serviceable leather for the upper parts of men’s boots.

1766.  Complete Farmer, s.v. Bee, A small caterpillar, termed the wax-worm, or *wax-moth, because of the havock it makes on wax.

1815.  Kirby & Sp., Entomol., xii. (1818), I. 390. The wax-moth larva (Galleria Cereana) will for want of wax eat paper, wafers, wool, etc.

1877.  J. G. Wood, Nature’s Teach., 151. The Wax-moth, or Galleria-moth (Galleria alvearia) … is in its larval state extremely injurious to beehives.

a. 1679.  Sir J. Moore, England’s Interest (1703), 137. First provide necessary Instruments, as … Honey-Pots, *Wax-Molds.

1849.  G. W. Francis, Art of Modelling Waxen Flowers, 16. Wax moulds for plaster casting, or the electro-type, should have [etc.].

1813.  Sir H. Davy, Agric. Chem., iii. (1814), 96. Wax … is procured in abundance from the berries of the *wax-myrtle.

1884.  Sargent, Rep. Forests N. America (10th Census IX), 136. Myrica cerifera … Bayberry. Wax Myrtle.

a. 1843.  Southey, Common-pl. Bk. (1851), IV. 11. It is fitter for the dotage dreams of Sir William Jones, than the visions of the poet. Let the *wax-nose be tweaked by Volney on one side and Maurice on the other!

c. 1615.  Sylvester, Mem. Mortal., II. xciv. Let’s leave out I, and No, in Conversation: Words now transposed, and *wax-nosed, Both.

1868.  Watts, Dict. Chem. (1877), V. 1036. [Beeswax gives off wax-butter, and] afterwards a more and more liquid oil, called *wax-oil, still retaining a small quantity of solid matter.

1896.  Chester, Dict. Names Min., *Wax-opal, an early name for yellow opal with a waxy lustre.

1854.  Fairholt, Dict. Terms Art, *Wax Painting. This art practised by the ancients under the name of Encaustic, has lately been revived in several countries.

1859.  Gullick & Timbs, Painting, 75. Various attempts have been made to re-introduce wax-painting; but the art of pencillum-encaustic, as practised by the ancients, seems to be lost.

1830.  Lindley, Nat. Syst. Bot., 282. The Ceroxylon andicola, or *Wax Palm of Humboldt, has its trunk covered by a coating of wax, which exudes from the spaces between the insertion of the leaves.

1882.  J. Smith, Dict. Pop. Names Plants, 436. Wax Palm. There are two so called: 1. Copernicia cerifera, a fan palm native of Brazil…. 2. Ceroxylon andicola, a tall wing-leaved palm, native of the elevated regions of New Grenada.

1844.  Hoblyn, Dict. Med., *Wax-paper. Charta cerata. Melt, in a water-bath, 48 parts each of white wax and fine turpentine, and 32 parts of spermaceti, and spread on paper.

1600.  Surflet, Country Farm, III. xlix. 537. The best … perrie is made of little yellow *waxe peares.

1854.  Fairholt, Dict. Terms Art, s.v., This medium is employed in making the cakes of *wax-pigments for water-colours.

1891.  Century Dict., *Wax-pine, the general name for the species of Agathis (Dammara), coniferous trees producing a large amount of resin. Ibid., *Wax-pink, a name for garden species of Portulaca: so called from their wax-like leaves and showy flowers.

1815.  Kirby & Sp., Entomol., xv. (1818), I. 492. The apparatus in which the wax is secreted consists of four pair of membranous bags or *wax-pockets.

1837.  Rivers, Rose Amateur’s Guide, 18. Duchesse d’Angoulême, or the Wax rose, is an old but deservedly a favourite variety.

1664.  Wood, Life (O.H.S.), II. 20. For a paire of *wax shoes [cf. below 1666, waxt shoes], 4 s. 4 d.

1692.  Sir J. Foulis, Acc. Bk. (S.H.S.), 144. For 2 pair wax shoes.

1432.  in Glasscock, Rec. St. Michael’s, Bp.’s Stortford (1882), 3. Et in *wexsilver collecto in ecclesia in die Paschali, vijs. viijd.

1496.  Cov. Leet Bk., 574. Item, that no maister make no brother to þe Craft yf he haue be prentes in þe Cite no lesse þen xiij s. iiij d. & his wax siluer.

1807.  Douce, Illustr. Shaks., II. 228. The Roman practice of writing on *wax tablets with a stile was continued also during the middle ages.

1905.  J. B. Bury, Life St. Patrick, iii. 39–40. Honoratus sent a messenger across in a boat with a letter on a wax tablet, and Eucherius, seeing the abbot’s writing, said, ‘To the wax you have restored its honey.’

1884.  W. Miller, Plant-n., I. 144. *Wax-weed, Blue, Cuphea viscosissima.

1766.  *Wax-worm [see wax-moth].