Wax Definition

wăks
waxed, waxes, waxing
noun
waxes
Any plastic substance like this.
Webster's New World
Beeswax.
American Heritage Medicine
Any of a group of substances with a waxy appearance made up variously of esters, fatty acids, free alcohols, and solid hydrocarbons.
Webster's New World
A plastic, dull-yellow substance secreted by bees for building cells; beeswax: it is hard when cold and easily molded when warm, melts at c. 64.4°C (c. 148°F), cannot be dissolved in water, and is used for candles, modeling, etc.
Webster's New World
Earwax.
American Heritage Medicine
Synonyms:
adjective
Made of wax.
Webster's New World
verb
waxed, waxes, waxing
To rub, polish, cover, smear, or treat with wax.
Webster's New World
To grow gradually larger, more numerous, etc.; increase in strength, intensity, volume, etc.
Webster's New World
To remove (facial or body hair) by covering the skin with a layer of wax that is peeled off after hardening, uprooting the encased hairs.
American Heritage
To show a progressively larger illuminated area, as the moon does in passing from new to full.
American Heritage
To remove unwanted hair from (the body) by applying and removing a hot waxy substance.
Webster's New World
Antonyms:
idiom
on wax
  • In the medium of phonograph recordings.
American Heritage

Other Word Forms of Wax

Noun

Singular:
wax
Plural:
waxes

Idioms, Phrasal Verbs Related to Wax

  • on wax

Origin of Wax

  • From Middle English waxen, from Old English weaxan (“to wax, grow, be fruitful, increase, become powerful, flourish"), from Proto-Germanic *wahsijanÄ… (“to grow"), from Proto-Indo-European *hâ‚‚weg-, *weks-, *aweks-, *auks- (“to grow, increase"). Cognate with Scots wax (“to grow"), West Frisian waakse (“to grow"), Low German wassen, Dutch wassen (“to grow"), German wachsen (“to grow"), Danish and Norwegian vokse (“to grow"), Swedish växa (“to grow"), Icelandic vaxa (“to grow"), Gothic 𐍅𐌰𐌷𐍃𐌾𐌰𐌽 (wahsjan, “to grow"); and with Ancient Greek ἀέξειν (aeksein), Latin auxilium. It is in its turn cognate with augeo. See eke.

    From Wiktionary

  • From Old English wæx, from Proto-Germanic *wahsÄ…, from Proto-Indo-European *wokso-. Cognate with Dutch was, German Wachs, Norwegian voks; and with Lithuanian vaÅ¡kas, Russian воск (vosk)

    From Wiktionary

  • Origin uncertain; probably from phrases like to wax angry, wax wode, and similar (see Etymology 2, above).

    From Wiktionary

  • Middle English waxen from Old English weaxan aug- in Indo-European roots

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

  • Perhaps from wax (as in archaic to wax angry to grow angry)

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

  • Middle English from Old English weax

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

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