Also 7 waxey. [f. WAX sb.1 + -Y1.]
† 1. Made of wax, waxen. Obs.
1552. Huloet, Waxie or of waxe, cæreus.
1615. Montgomerie’s Cherrie & Slae, v. in Ramsay, Evergreen (1875), II. 101. And sum [bees] the waxie Veschells wrocht, Thair Purchase to preserve.
1625. K. Long, trans. Barclay’s Argenis, V. i. 330. The Bees so sudden joyes Their waxie-houses fill with buzzing noyse.
2. Having the nature or distinctive properties of wax.
1799. G. Smith, Laboratory, I. 434. Boil a quantity of honey in order to get all the waxy part out of it.
1866. Treas. Bot., s.v. Elæagia, These trees are remarkable for the quantity of green resinous or waxy matter which is secreted by the stipules.
1884. Bower & Scott, De Bary’s Phaner., 82. In company with the cuticular bodies there are usually found compounds of a waxy nature.
b. fig. Of a person, his heart, mind: Soft, plastic, impressionable like wax.
1596. Willobie, Avisa (1880), 88. If you had had a waxye hart That would haue melt at hot desyre.
1608. Bp. Hall, Char., II. 111. The Vnconstant…. He is seruile in imitation, waxey to persuasions.
1632. T. Goff, Courageous Turk, II. v. Thinke you my minde is waxie, to be wrought, By any fashion.
a. 1660. Hammond, 19 Serm., xvii. Wks. 1684, IV. 679. Now … that the softer waxy part of you, may receive some impression from this Discourse, let us close all with an Application.
1843. Dickens, Lett., 13 Nov. Lett. (1880), I. 93. If you will impress this on the waxy mind of —— I shall be truly and unaffectedly obliged to you.
3. Resembling wax in color or consistence; (of a quality) like that of wax. Often said of boiled potatoes that have not become ‘mealy.’
1835–6. Todd’s Cycl. Anat., I. 428/1. The … waxy appearance which those who are the subjects of this disease [i.e., chlorosis] generally exhibit.
1841. Hood, Tale of Trumpet, 209. Great Philosophers talking like Platos,… And your ears as dull as waxy potatoes!
1845. Florist’s Jrnl. (1846), VI. 6. Ground colour a clear primrose, edging a bright purple, petals very waxy.
1868. ‘Holme Lee,’ B. Godfrey, xxviii. There are two daughters, pretty little waxy girls they were.
1875. Buckland, Log-Bk., 140. The general colour of the scorpion is a horrid-looking waxy brown.
1890. Lancet, 16 Aug., 333/1. The fat is abnormally waxy and soft.
1905. R. Bagot, Passport, xxv. 268. The waxy whiteness of the rest of the face [in an old picture].
Comb. 1846. Dickens, Cricket on Hearth, i. The little waxy-faced Dutch clock in the corner.
1871. T. H. Green, Introd. Pathol., 65. The cut-surface is … translucent, and waxy-looking.
b. Med. Affected with amyloid degeneration.
1845. Budd, Dis. Liver, 243. These characters are well expressed by the epithet ‘waxy,’ which has been applied to livers in this state by Dr. Home and Rokitansky.
1866. A. Flint, Princ. Med. (1880), 57. The waxy material is exceptionally deposited in large nodules, constituting the waxy tumors.
1876. Bristowe, Th. & Pract. Med., 800. Gall-stones … sometimes consist … of a nearly homogeneous waxy mass.
1881. W. H. Day, Dis. Childr., 269. The lardaceous or waxy kidney.
1897. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., IV. 537. The diffuse, waxy spleen.
4. Soiled or covered with wax. In quots. as a derisive epithet for a cobbler.
1851. Mayhew, Lond. Labour (1861), III. 75/2. Your child … called me cobbler waxy, waxy, waxy.
1914. A. Macdonald, Story & Song fr. Loch Ness-side, xiii. 223. They got there [into the fairy mound], and immediately observed the ‘waxy cobbler’ still dancing.
Hence Waxily adv., Waxiness.
1828. York Herald, etc., 8 Nov., 4/5. We see that mealy potatoes are the most valuable, and waxiness is an indication of deficiency of starch or nutriment matter.
1853. Bath Chron., 17 Nov., 3/6. The clods clung to the turn-farrow waxily, instead of sliding off.
1855. Hyde Clarke, Waxiness.
1880. Jrnl. Linn. Soc., XV. 98. Shell … not thin, but waxily translucent.
1890. Sat. Rev., 22 Nov., 588/2. [He] was originally a sculptor, and now paints rather waxily, as if he were modelling in oil-colour.
