Now rare exc. dial. [f. WAX v.1 Cf. G. wachs.]
1. The process of waxing; growth.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 1450. Euer stod þai [sc. þe wandes] still in an, Wit-outen wax, wit-outen wain. Ibid., 8244. A-boute þat tre, A siluer cercle son naild he, Þat was þe stouen for to strength, And knau þe wax o gret and length.
1892. Athenæum, 30 Jan., 146/2. ‘On the Wane’ (which should strictly be called ‘On the Wane, on the Wax, and on the Wane Again’).
2. Stature; size (of something growing).
c. 1460. Towneley Myst., xxx. 245. Thou art best on thi wax that euer was clekyt, or knawen.
1618. W. Lawson, New Orch. & Garden (1626), 35. The boale will be first, and best serued and fed, because he is next the root, and of greatest waxe and substance.
1868. Atkinson, Cleveland Gloss., and 1876–89 in Yorks. and Lincs. glossaries.
