wax

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A soft, solid substance made from oils or fats that melts when warmed, used to make candles and to polish surfaces.

   The candle dripped hot wax onto the table.

2. 2
   verb

   To rub wax onto something to protect or polish it.

   He waxed the car until it shone.

3. 3
   noun

   The sticky substance found inside your ears.

   The doctor cleaned the wax out of his ears.

4. 4
   verb

   To gradually grow larger or brighter, especially of the moon.

   The moon is waxing and will be full by Friday.

5. 5
   adj

   Made of wax.

   The museum displayed a wax figure of the queen.

Appears in

Simplified etymology

The verb wax comes from Old English weaxan “grow, increase.” Its meaning survives in references to the growing illumination of the moon and in the later sense “become,” as in “wax lyrical.” The noun for the substance made by bees is also Old English and may come from the same root, as something that grows in the hive, but this connection is uncertain.

From Middle English waxen, from Old English weaxan (“to wax, grow, be fruitful, increase, become powerful, flourish”), from Proto-West Germanic *wahsan, from Proto-Germanic *wahsijaną (“to grow”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂weg- (“to grow, increase”). Cognate with Scots wax (“to grow”), West Frisian waakse (“to greaten”), Low German wassen, Dutch wassen (“to greaten”), German wachsen (“to greaten”), Danish and Norwegian vokse (“to greaten”), Swedish växa (“to greaten”), Icelandic vaxa (“to greaten”), Gothic 𐍅𐌰𐌷𐍃𐌾𐌰𐌽 (wahsjan, “to grow”); and with Ancient Greek ἀέξειν (aéxein), Latin auxilium.…

Topics

External links

• Google Images
• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary