waxwork

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a lifelike figure or effigy modeled in wax

   The museum displayed a remarkably realistic waxwork of the celebrated actor.

2. 2
   noun

   North American: the twining shrub American bittersweet, whose fruit has scarlet seeds

   Waxwork climbed the woodland trees and opened its yellow capsules in autumn.

A compound of wax + work. The figure sense refers to work modeled in wax and later to an individual wax effigy. The North American plant sense, also called American bittersweet, probably alludes to its waxy-looking fruit or seeds.

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