five months pass...
three weeks pass...
eight months pass...
five months pass...
OED sez:
"1. a. A substance (also distinctively called BEESWAX) produced by bees, and used by them as the material of the honeycomb. It is a secretion of special glands in the abdomen, mixed with the secretion of the salivary glands in the process of mastication; when slightly warmed it is readily moulded into any shape, and when heated to about 150° melts into a liquid; in its natural state it is of a bright yellow colour. butter of wax: see BUTTER n.1 3. Cf. wax-butter in 13.
Chemically beeswax is a combination of palmitic, cerotic, and melissic acids with myricil alcohol.
805-1375 [see 2]. c1386 CHAUCER Prol. 675 This Pardoner hadde heer as yelow as wex. 1398 TREVISA Barth. De P.R. XIX. lxi. (1495) 897 Wexe is the drastes of hony. c1440 Pallad. on Husb. I. 1023 Of tyme is wex and hony maad swettest. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 165b, Lyke as ye hony is closed within the come of waxe. c1560 A. SCOTT Poems i. 105 As beis takkis walx and honye of e floure. 1601 SHAKES. All's Well I. ii. 65 Since I not wax nor honie can bring home. a1679 SIR J. MOORE England's Interest (1703) 137 Break the Combs..into three parts. The first Honey and Wax, the 2d. Honey and Wax with Sandarack, the 3d. dry Wax without Honey. 1792 J. HUNTER in Phil. Trans. LXXXII. 145 The wax is formed by the bees themselves; it may be called an external secretion of oil, and I have found that it is formed between each scale of the under side of the belly. 1834 MCMURTRIE Cuvier's Anim. Kingd. 433 Wax, according to the experiments of the same naturalists, is nothing more than elaborated honey. 1871 STAVELEY Brit. Insects 248 The substances or materials collected or produced by Bees are four in numberhoney, bee-bread, wax, and propolis.
¶b. rough wax: a term formerly applied to the pollen adhering to the legs of bees, which was erroneously supposed to be the crude substance from which the wax was elaborated. Obs.
1744 tr. Bazin's Nat. Hist. Bees 43 This dust then, which falls upon these stamina of flowers, is the sole matter, of which wax is made, which I shall call rough wax. 1792 J. HUNTER in Phil. Trans. LXXXII. 144 The substance brought in on their legs, which is the farina of the flowers of plants, is, in common, I believe, imagined to be the materials of which the wax is made, for it is called by most the wax.
2. a. Beeswax as melted down, bleached, or otherwise prepared for some special purpose in the arts, in medicine, or in manufactures.
The more prominent uses are: as material for candles and tapers, as a plastic material for modelling, as a component of plasters, as a vehicle for encaustic painting, and as a protective coating to exclude the air.
805-10 in Birch Cartul. Sax. (1885) I. 459 Mon aet weax agæfe to cirican. 971 Blickl. Hom. 129 Swa swa eles ecynd bi æt he beorhtor scine onne wex on sceafte. c1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 47 Alse wex on e candele sene, e wueke wiinnen unsene. c1205 LAY. 2370 Muchel win, muchel wex, muchel wunsum ing. 1340-70 Alex. & Dind. 236 While e weke & e waxe vn-waste laste. 1375 BARBOUR Bruce XI. 119 Vyne and vax, schot and vittale. 1402 in E.E. Wills 11, ij torchis of wax. 1406 HOCCLEVE La Male Regle 254 Alle eres of men of his compaignie, With wex he stoppe leet, for at they noght Hir song sholde heere. a1425 tr. Arderne's Treat. Fistula etc. 81 If ou wilt make it in maner of one emplastre, putte er-to wax and blak pich. 1597 JAS. VI Dæmonol. II. v. 44 To some others at these times hee teacheth, how to make Pictures of waxe or clay: That by the rosting thereof, the persones that they beare the name of, may be continuallie melted or dryed awaie by continuall sicknesse. 1601 HOLLAND Pliny XXXV. xi. II. 546 As touching the feat of setting colours with wax, and enamelling with fire, who first began and devised the same, it is not known. 1612 Sc. Bk. Rates in Halyburton's Ledger (1867) 293 Candles of walx the pound weght thairof, iiiis. 1638 JUNIUS Paint. Ancients 133 There should be made three images of wax, in the place of three men that were to be offered unto Juno. 1676 WISEMAN Surg. I. vi. 40 A Cerote of Wax and Oyl over the Leg. 1702 in Ashton Soc. Life Reign Q. Anne (1882) I. 283 Effigies..Curiously done in Wax to the Life. 1707-21 MORTIMER Husb. II. 255 Cleft Grafting... Cover the Head of the Stock with temper'd Clay, or with soft Wax. 1768 W. LEWIS Mat. Med. (ed. 2) 202 The chief medicinal use of wax is in plasters, unguents, and other like external applications. 1787 Trans. Soc. Arts V. 104 The Art of Painting in Wax as described in the following letter and account. 1789 MRS. PIOZZI Journ. France & Italy II. 227 They..I think excel Mrs. Wright's finest figures in wax. 1803 Nicholson's Jrnl. Nat. Philos. (8°) IV. 176 A stream of wax has just overflowed the cup of the wax candle by which I have been reading. 1815 S. PARKES Chem. Ess. II. 148 In some particular styles of work the operation of certain colours is resisted by means of stopping out with wax. 1832 CARLYLE Ess., Death Goethe (1840) IV. 118 The true Sovereign of the world, who moulds the world like soft wax, according to his pleasure. 1840 DICKENS Old C. Shop xxviii, Children, who..were fully impressed with the belief that her grandfather was a cunning device in wax. 1875 KNIGHT Dict. Mech. 2312/2 Cover the inside of the [plaster] sections with a shell of wax.
b. As used for the coating of writing tablets.
1533 BELLENDEN Livy (S.T.S.) I. 55 Als richtuislie as ai ar here Ingravin in ir tabillis or walx. 1565 COOPER Thesaurus s.v. Cera, Ceræ credere aliquid, Plaut. To wryte in tables of waxe. 1854 FAIRHOLT Dict. Terms Art s.v. Encaustic, The artists of antiquity..used the stylus and wax for tablet-pictures and architectural decorations.
c. A particular variety of wax. Usually with qualifying adj., as bleached, white, yellow wax. See also VIRGIN WAX.
1545 T. RAYNALDE Byrth Mankynde 118 If the child be in great heate annoynte hym with the oyle of violettes, or with oyle olyfe, tempered with a lyttell whyte wexe. 1601 HOLLAND Pliny XXI. xiv. II. 96 The best wax is that which is called Punica,..and is white. The next, in goodnesse is the yellowest,..such commeth from the countrey of Pontus. 1630 in Abridgm. Specif. Patents, Oils etc. (1873) 2 To make yellow wax white verie speedily. 1768 W. LEWIS Mat. Med. (ed. 2) 201 Cera alba..White wax: the yellow wax artificially bleached. Ibid., Cera flava..Yellow wax; in the state wherein it is obtained from the combs. 1811 A. T. THOMSON Lond. Disp. (1818) 112 Unbleached Wax... Yellow wax is prepared immediately from the honeycomb. 1843 R. J. GRAVES Syst. Clin. Med. xxix. 390 The applications in use were yellow wax ointment and nitrate of silver.
d. man of wax: a waxen image of a man. Obs.
Cf. 1439 E.E. Wills 118 Allso I woll the great Image of wex that is at London be offred to our lady of Worcestre.
1500 Will of Rigawell (Somerset Ho., Blamyr 23b), I wille that my seid executors..shalle offre for me a man a [sic] of wax..at our lady of Walsyngham..also at the rode of Berkles a man of waxe.
e. pl. Pieces of wax. nonce-use.
1550 CRANMER Def. Sacram. III. 81 As two waxes, that be molten & put togither, they close so in one, that euery part of the one, is ioyned to euery parte of the other.
f. An object made of wax. (a) A wax candle. (b) A figure or model in wax.
(a) 1844 HEWLETT Parsons & W. xlix, A resplendent October moon..seemed to impose upon us the notion that it would be a sacrilege against Diana if we were to shut out her rays, and substitute a pair of waxes for her clear beams. 1871 BESANT & RICE Ready-money Mort. iii, Don't waste the light, Dick. You're burning one of your poor aunt's waxes.
(b) 1865 TYLOR Early Hist. Man. vi. 125 A mediæval sermon speaks of baptizing a ‘wax’ to bewitch with. 1906 Westm. Gaz. 9 May 8/2 The original ‘waxes’ of Flaxman, Angelino, Pacetti, and other famous designers, from which the moulds for the familiar classical decorations were made.
3. a. In figurative and similative uses, referring to the easy fusibility of wax, its softness and readiness to receive impressions, its adhesiveness, etc. nose of wax: see NOSE n. 4.
c825 Vesp. Psalter xxi. 15 eworden wes heorte min swe swe wæx emaeltende in midle wombe minre. c1000 Ags. Ps. (Th.) lvii. 7 Swa weax melte, if hit by wearmum neah fyre efæstnad. c1375 Sc. Leg. Saints iv. (James) 266 e stane..wex nesch as it wax war. 1471 RIPLEY Comp. Alch. I. vi. in Ashmole (1652) 130 Fluxyble as Wex. 1546 J. HEYWOOD Prov. II. vi. (1867) 61 At my wil I wend she should haue wrought, like wax. 1592 SHAKES. Rom. & Jul. III. iii. 126 Thy Noble shape is but a forme of waxe, Digressing from the Valour of a man. 1598 E. GUILPIN Skial. (1878) 58 He hath a wit of waxe, fresh as a rose. 1608 DEKKER 2nd Pt. Honest Wh. I. (1630) B3, Hip. I'm glad you are wax, not marble: you are made Of mans best temper. 1612 BEAUM. & FL. Coxcomb II. ii, I'll work her as I go, I know shee's wax, now. a1700 B. E. Dict. Canting Crew, Pliant,..Wax to every Thumb. 1717 POPE Hor. Ep. II. ii. 9 He's your slave, for twenty pound a year, Mere wax as yet, you fashion him with ease. 1748 RICHARDSON Clarissa (1768) VII. 365 When my mind is made such wax, as to be fit to take what impression she pleases to give it. 1817 BYRON Beppo xxxiv, His heart was one of those which most enamour us, Wax to receive, and marble to retain. 1875 STUBBS Const. Hist. II. xiv. 99 John's heart was of millstone, Henry's of wax.
b. Phrases: close, tight, neat as wax; to stick (to one) like wax; to fit like wax.
1772 CUMBERLAND Fashionable Lover III. 35 But you mun be as close as wax, d'ye see. 1809 BYRON Lines to Mr. Hodgson 30 All are wrangling, Stuck together close as wax. 1850 SUSAN WARNER Wide Wide World xvi, The furniture was common, but neat as wax. 1859 LYTTON What will he do IV. xiv, ‘Cabined, cribbed, confined’, in a coat that fits him like wax. 1865 DICKENS Mut. Fr. IV. vi, Bella and John Rokesmith followed; Gruff and Glum stuck to them like wax. 1898 N. GOULD Landed at Last v. 52 Not much chance of drawing Sim Sharples when he's alone. He's as close as wax, and so is Sam Rogers. 1902 [see TIGHT a. 5].
c. man, lad of wax: used as a term of emphatic commendation. Now arch. and dial. (see Eng. Dial. Dict).
The origin of this expression is not clear. It may have meant ‘as faultless as if modelled in wax’ (cf. 2d.). Some would refer it to WAX n.2
1592 SHAKES. Rom. & Jul. I. iii. 76 Why hee's a man of waxe. 1607 DEKKER & WEBSTER West-w. Hoe II. i, Hees a Knight made out of waxe. 1611 BEAUM. & FL. Philaster I. i, Oh! 'tis a Prince of wax. 1612 FIELD Woman is Weathercock I. B4b, By Ioue it is a little man of wax. 1821 W. T. MONCRIEFF Tom & Jerry III. iii, A glass of good max..Wou'd have made them, like us, lads of wax. 1840 Peter Parley's Ann. I. 131 The shoemaker..surveyed the Prince from top to bottom. ‘No tailor could do that,’ said he; ‘he must be a lad of wax.’ 1858 TROLLOPE Dr. Thorne iv, All right, my lad of wax. 1880 BLACKMORE Mary Anerley xxiii, Could any lad of wax put up with this, least of all a daring mariner?
4. a. In early use, beeswax (or a mixture of this with other substances) as employed to receive the impression of a seal; in later use, a compound, chiefly consisting of lac, serving the same purpose: = SEALING-WAX.
971 Blickl. Hom. 205 a fotlastas wæron swutole & esyne on æm stane, swa hie on wexe wæron ayde. a1300 Cursor M. 557 Als prient of seel in wax es thrist er in he has his lic[nes] fest. a1340 HAMPOLE Psalter iv. 7 e prynt we bere of t light as e wax does of e sele. 1398 TREVISA Barth. De P.R. XIX. lxi. (1495) 898 Preuyte is hydde vnder wexe: and pryueleges be confermyd with wexe. c1450 Cov. Myst. (1841) 341 Loo! here is wax fful redy dyght, Sett on our sele anon ful ryght. 1511-2 Act 3 Hen. VIII c. 6 §1 The Alnager..shall..not put to eny suche clothes eny seales of wexe in any wise. 1535 W. STEWART Cron. Scot. (Rolls) III. 464 Brekand promit to him befoir he maid In writ and walx, wnder thair seillis braid. 1560 J. DAUS tr. Sleidane's Comm. 119 For al the sorte of them occupie waxe..in sealyng their letters. 1588 SHAKES. L.L.L. IV. i. 59 We will reade it, I sweare. Breake the necke of the Waxe, and euery one giue eare. 1593 Lucr. 1245 No more then waxe shall be accounted euill, Wherein is stampt the semblance of a Deuill. 1607 MIDDLETON Michaelmas Term IV. i, Hee will neuer trust his land in Waxe and Parchment as many Gentlemen haue done before him. 1609 SKENE Reg. Maj., Forme of Proces 120 The deposition..sould be stampit and sealit be the Lords examinatours, with seale and walx, and sould not be opened at the secund or thrid examination. 1622 J. TAYLOR (Water P.) Farew. Tower Bottles A3, Bound fast in Bonds in Parchment and with waxe. 1676 WYCHERLEY Pl. Dealer IV. i, O do not squeeze Wax, Son; rather go to Ordinaries, and Baudy-houses, than squeeze Wax. 1717 PRIOR To Harley 1 Pen, ink, and wax, and paper send. 1761 COLMAN Jealous Wife I. 14 Maj. A Letter!HumA suspicious Circumstance to be sure!What, and the Seal a True-Lover's Knot now, hey!..or possibly the Wax bore the industrious Impression of a Thimble. 1818 CRUISE Digest (ed. 2) IV. 32 One piece of wax may serve for all the grantors, &c...if every one of them put his seal upon the same piece of wax. 1818 BYRON Juan I. cxcviii, The seal a sun-flower,..The wax was superfine, its hue vermilion.
b. With designation of colour. See also GREEN WAX.
1485 Nottingham Rec. III. 230 For rede wax to seale e endentures. 1496 Acta Dom. Conc. II. 19 Ane decrete of the Lordis under the quhite walx. 1532 Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot. (1905) VI. 50 For rede waks and quhite to sele the citationis. 1641 ‘SMECTYMNUUS’ Vind. Answ. Humb. Rem. §16. 218 The Greene Wax and Red Wax of the Bishops. 1653 in Verney Mem. (1907) I. 525 Stone Bottles with White Wine. They are all sealed with Black Wax. 1712 STEELE Spect. No. 431 3, I then nibbled all the red Wax of our last Ball-Tickets, and three Weeks after the black Wax from the Burying-Tickets of the old Gentleman.
c. hard wax = SEALING-WAX. Obs.
1603 R. JOHNSON Kingd. & Commw. 35 The Ilands affoorde plenty of hides, cotten,..hand wax and pearles. 1616 B. JONSON Devil an Ass V. i, My purse, my seales, My hard~wax, and my table-bookes. 1660 F. BROOKE tr. Le Blanc's Trav. ix. 26 Laca d'Alaca..Of this is likewise made Spanish hard wax. a1674 CLARENDON Hist. Reb. XIV. §139 A clean piece of paper sealed with three impressions of an antique head in hard wax.
5. Applied to artificial compounds having the properties of wax, and substituted for it in various applications.
1763 W. LEWIS Commerc. Phil.-Techn. 78 The gilding wax is composed of bees-wax, red ochre or ruddle, verdegris, vitriol or alum, and sometimes other additions.
6. Any of a class of substances, found in nature in greater or less purity, including beeswax and other compounds resembling it in general properties and (more or less) in chemical composition. In Chem. properly restricted to those ‘waxes’ of animal and vegetable origin which, like beeswax, are composed of fatty acids and alcohols. The mineral ‘waxes’ are hydrocarbons. a. A vegetable product obtained from various trees and plants.
1799 Med. Jrnl. I. 268 The matter of wax, as forming an ingredient in many vegetables, is discoverable, partly from their shining surface, partly from a certain flexibility in such bodies. 1803 Nicholson's Jrnl. Nat. Philos. (8°) IV. 187 The light matter which is called the down of fruits, which silvers the surface of prunes and other fruits, is wax. 1813 SIR H. DAVY Agric. Chem. iii. (1814) 96 Wax is found in a number of vegetables, it is procured in abundance from the berries of the wax myrtle, it may likewise be obtained from the leaves of many trees. 1839 URE Dict. Arts, etc. s.v., Wax exists also as a vegetable product, and may, in this point of view, be regarded as a concrete fixed oil. It forms a part of the green fecula of many plants, particularly of the cabbage; it may be extracted from the pollen of most flowers; as also from the skins of plums, and many stone fruits. It constitutes a varnish upon the upper surface of the leaves of many trees, and it has been observed in the juice of the cow-tree. The berries of the Myrica angustifolia, latifolia, as well as the cerifera, afford abundance of wax. 1880 ALCOCK in Encycl. Brit. XIII. 590/2 The Urushi tree growing in Japan (the fruit of which yields the vegetable wax). 1887 C. A. MOLONEY Forestry W. Africa 461 Gums and Resins, Vegetable Waxes.
b. A substance resembling beeswax secreted or produced by various species of scale-insects. Sometimes called Chinese wax. Also, ‘the product of some other homopterous insects’ (Cent. Dict.).
1802 BINGLEY Anim. Biog. (1805) III. 290 To their [the larvæ of the cicada] labours the Chinese are indebted for the fine white wax that is so much esteemed in the East-Indies. They form a sort of white grease which attaches to the branches of trees, hardens there, and becomes wax. 1815 KIRBY & SP. Entomol. x. (1818) I. 328 In China wax is also produced by another insect, which..seems to be a species of Coccus. Ibid. 331 Early in the spring vast numbers of these caterpillars [of Phalæna ceraria] collect on the branches of the Chila, where they form their cells of a kind of soft white wax or resin... This wax, which is at first very white, but by degrees becomes yellow and finally brown, is collected in autumn by the inhabitants, who boil it in water, and make it up into little cakes for market. 1852 W. GREGORY Handbk. Org. Chem. (ed. 3) 247 Chinese Wax. 1876 WESTWOOD in Trans. Entom. Soc. Lond. 521 Now this ‘cottony’ covering was doubtless formed of the wax secreted by the Fulgora. 1899 D. SHARP Insects II. 575 A great many [of the Fulgoridæ] have the curious power of excreting large quantities of a white flocculent wax. Ibid. 597 Ceroplastes ceriferus, a Lecaniid, produces white wax in India... The white wax of China is understood to be produced by another Lecaniid, Ericerus pela.
c. A mineral product somewhat resembling bees-wax. fossil or mineral wax = OZOCERITE. paraffin wax: see PARAFFIN n. 4.
1838 T. THOMSON Chem. Org. Bodies 448 Fossil wax of Moldavia. 1842 FRANCIS Dict. Arts, etc., Wax, Mineral, a bituminous substance, found at the foot of the Carpathian mountains, near Slarick. 1868 WATTS Dict. Chem. (1877) V. 1037 Wax, Fossil. Syn. with Ozocerite.
d. gen.
1866 WATTS Dict. Chem. (1877) IV. 322 Ozocerite..is like a resinous wax in consistence and translucency. 1868 Ibid. V. 1037 Japan-wax..is not a true wax, but a glyceride.
e. (See quots.) Cf. paraffin wax s.v. PARAFFIN n. 4.
1924 Ski Terms in Tourist (Winter Sports No.) 12/2 Wax, a paraffin preparation to prevent the snow balling under the ski. 1962 Austral. Women's Weekly 24 Oct. (Suppl.) 3/4 Wax, paraffin wax, rubbed on a [surf]board to prevent slipping.
f. lost wax: see LOST ppl. a. 6.
7. = EAR-WAX.
[1398-1614: see EAR-WAX.] 1706 PHILLIPS (ed. Kersey), Cerumen, the filth or Wax of the Ear, which serves to hinder Dust, Motes, or any little Creatures from getting into it. 1889 L. HUMPHRY Man. Nursing (1892) 216 When there is hard wax blocking up the canal [of the ear].
8. A thick resinous composition used by shoemakers for rubbing their thread. More fully cobblers', shoemakers' wax: see COBBLER, SHOEMAKER.
1622 MASSINGER & DEKKER Virg. Martyr III. iii, Long I cannot last, for all sowterly waxe of comfort melting away, and misery taking the length of my foote, it bootes not me to sue for life. 1837 J. KIRKBRIDE North. Angler 11 The amateur..must..be provided with..shoe-maker's wax. I prepare my own wax,..by boiling a little pitch and rosin together,..and tempering it with a very little tallow. 1885 J. B. LENO Boot & Shoemaking 222 Wax that will work up into the pure bronze colour so much liked by shoemakers may be made of 4 lbs. resin, 1 lb. pitch, 4 ounces beeswax, 3 ounces tallow.
9. U.S. A thick syrup produced by boiling down the sap of the sugar-maple tree, cooling on ice, etc. (Cent. Dict.)
1845 S. JUDD Margaret II. i, [Making maple sugar] The ‘wax’ is freely distributed to be cooled on lumps of snow or the axe-head.
10. Mining. (See quot.)
1883 GRESLEY Gloss. Coal-mining, Wax (Leicester.) soft or puddled clay used for dams or stoppings, and in which the colliers stick and carry about their candles in the mine.
11. U.S. slang. A gramophone record; to put on wax, to make a gramophone record of, to record. [From the ‘wax’ discs in which the recording stylus cuts its groove.]
1932 New Yorker 11 June 56/2 An extraordinarily competent bit of manufacture is the latest wax by Miss Jeanette MacDonald (Victor 24103). 1940 J. O'HARA Pal Joey (1952) 107, I am going to play the tune and cut a wax of it. 1941 Jazz Information Nov. 28/1 Some of the most beautiful piano playing Jelly Roll ever put on wax. 1941 W. C. HANDY Father of Blues xvi. 219 Recording companies..made them available on wax. 1968 P. OLIVER Screening Blues 4 The more sophisticated types of vaudeville entertainment were to be heard on wax before the Southern rural blues. 1979 Early Music Oct. 469/1 Scarlatti, Rameau, Couperin, Handel and, of course, Bach were committed to wax during the 1930s, as well.
12. attrib. and Comb. a. Attrib. (quasi-adj.) with the sense ‘composed of wax’. (See also WAX TAPER.)
1585 HIGINS Junius' Nomencl. 474/2 Ceroplastes,..a maker of wax images. 1685 G. SINCLAIR Satans Invis. World 3 This woman..had formed an Wax-Picture, with pins in the side. 1811 A. T. THOMSON Lond. Disp. (1818) 714 Wax Plaster. 1825 in R. W. Goulding Louth Old Corpor. Rec. (1891) 185 By Cash of Madame Tussaud for 5 weeks use of the Mansion House for her Exhibitn of Wax Figures, 9196. 1840 DICKENS Master Humphrey's Clock I. 101 A young hairdresser..opened a wery smart little shop with four wax dummies in the winder. 1846 DICKENS Pictures from Italy, Lyons, etc., There was a wax saint, in a little box..with a glass front to it. 1847 Ann. Reg. 20 A little box of about a dozen wax lucifer matches. 1849 CHRISTMAS Cradle of Twin Giants II. iv. I. 271 An empty bier, surrounded by an hundred wax-torches. 1853 C. C. FELTON Fam. Lett. viii. (1865) 61 The oddest thing of all is a wax figure of Frederic the Great. 1854 Poultry Chron. II. 105 Some freak of wax-fruit modelling. 1858 SIMMONDS Dict. Trade, Vesta, a kind of wax match. 1870 BOWEN Logic xi. 353 It may be only a wax counterfeit. 1892 Photogr. Ann. II. 45 A wax vesta which is lit and the head knocked off. 1914 ‘IAN HAY’ Knt. on Wheels xx, His wife kept wax fruit under a glass case in her parlour window. 1969 Y. CARTER Mr Campion's Farthing xix. 188 A wax dummy displaying a garment for sale. 1978 J. ANDERSON Angel of Death xii. 139 Her body as motionless, her face as impassive as a wax dummy.
b. simple attrib., ‘of or pertaining to wax’, as wax-chip, -solution, -spot.
1859 Habits of Gd. Society xiii. 336 After the Tuileries' balls, we often returned with complete epaulettes of wax-spots on our shoulders, if in moments of carelessness we had stood under the chandeliers. 1889 Anthony's Photogr. Bull. II. 241 A wax solution or wax chips melted by a hot iron.
c. objective, as wax-bearer, -bleacher, -manufacturer, -modeller, -nibbler, producer, -refiner; wax-modelling vbl. n.; wax-bearing, -forming, -producing, -secreting ppl. adjs. Also WAX-MAKER, -MAKING.
1577 tr. Bullinger's Decades V. iii. (1592) 884 The Acoluthes say they are *waxe-bearers, because they carrie waxe-candles.
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1796 MARSHALL Planting II. 232 The Candleberry Myrtle, or *Wax-bearing Myrick.
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1881 Instructions to Census Clerks (1885) 77 *Wax, beeswaxbleacher, refiner [etc.]. 1908 Westm. Gaz. 29 Apr. 1/3 He..became a wax-bleacher at Hoxton.
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1802 BINGLEY Anim. Biog. (1805) III. 289 The *Wax-forming Cicada.
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1858 SIMMONDS Dict. Trade, *Wax-manufacturer.
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Ibid., *Wax-modeller.
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1850 OGILVIE, *Wax-modelling.
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1712 STEELE Spect. No. 431 3 Chalk-lickers, *Wax-nibblers, Coal-scranchers, [etc.].
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1889 Hardwicke's Sci.-Gossip XXV. 131 Insects..highly prized as *wax-producers.
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1861 HULME tr. Moquin-Tandon II. iii. 206 Bees are the principal *wax-producing animals.
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1881 *Wax-refiner [see wax-bleacher above].
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1881 Globe Encycl. VI. 484 The *wax-secreting glands [in the bee].
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d. instrumental, as wax-coated, -composed, -daubed, -erected, -jointed, -lighted, -polished, -rubbed, -tipped, -topped adjs.
1875 KNIGHT Dict. Mech. 2748/2 A machine for preparing *wax-coated matches for dipping.
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a1642 SIR F. KYNASTON Leoline & Sydanis 1874 His *wax-composed wings unfeathered were.
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1942 W. FAULKNER Go down, Moses 305 The tawny *wax-daubed shapeless lump.
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a1718 PARNELL Hesiod 131 Thus in a thousand *wax-erected forts A loitering race the painful bee supports.
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1846 C. G. PROWETT Prometh. Bound 27 While murmurs ever and anon From his *wax-jointed reed the same low sleepy drone.
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1839 HOOD Lines to Friend at Cobham 17 You'll sometimes have *wax-lighted rooms.
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1866 J. B. ROSE tr. Ovid's Met. 245 Chestnut bowls, *wax-polished was their wood.
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1598 E. GUILPIN Skial. (1878) 26 Like a *wax-rubd Citty roome.
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1898 CONAN DOYLE Trag. Korosko i, He had..a small *wax-tipped moustache.
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1822 W. IRVING Bracebridge Hall (1823) I. 113 The Stout Gentleman and his *wax-topped boots.
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e. similative, as wax finish; with adjs. denoting colour, as wax-blond, -brown, -pale, -red, -white, -yellow; also wax-like adj.
1925 E. SITWELL Troy Park 92 Oh, *wax-blond orange-blossoms' calice Of their hair.
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1887 W. PHILLIPS Brit. Discomyc. 70 Cup medium size,..pale *wax-brown.
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1897 C. T. DAVIS Manuf. Leather (ed. 2) 464 The making of a *wax finish on chrome-tanned horse hide butts.
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1748 RICHARDSON Clarissa (1768) III. 27 Her *wax-like flesh..answers for the soundness of her health. 1816 COLERIDGE Statesman's Man. 4 We..need not be surprised at the fact, that a jealous priesthood should have ventured to represent the applicability of the Bible to all the wants and occasions of men as a wax-like pliability to all their fancies and prepossessions. 1862 MILLER Elem. Chem., Org. (ed. 2) 474 If its chloride be mixed with a solution of bichloride of platinum it yields a wax-like mass. 1885 Cornhill Mag. Mar. 284 A lovely..plant with masses of waxlike lilac blossom. 1899 J. HUTCHINSON in Archives Surg. X. Descr. Pl. xvii, The greater part of the hand is of wax-like pallor.
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1942 E. SITWELL Street Songs 31 Dark-leaved arbutus blooms with *wax-pale bells.
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1592 SHAKES. Ven. & Ad. 516 Which purchase if thou make, for feare of slips, Set thy seale manuell, on my *wax-red lips.
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1883 ‘MARK TWAIN’ Life on Miss. xxxi. 338 All of them with *wax-white, rigid faces. 1890 KIPLING Life's Handicap, Incarn. Krishna Mulvaney 29 My face was wax-white, an' at the worst I must ha' looked like a ghost.
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1805 T. WEAVER Werner's Ext. Charact. Fossils 58 *Wax-yellow [G. wachsgelb] is a light honey-yellow, mixed with a little light ashes-grey.
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f. in parasynthetic formations, as wax-featured, -headed, -hearted adjs.
1612 T. TAYLOR Comm. Titus i. 11. (1619) 227 How many who haue seemed waxe-hearted Christians, soft and pliable. 1913 E. WHARTON Custom of Country II. xii. 156 A showy Parisianized figure, with a small wax-featured husband. 1914 Glasgow News 22 Dec. 4 The map was bristling with wax-headed pins of great variety in size and colour. They represented army units.
13. Special comb.: wax bath, an application of warm liquid wax which is allowed to solidify to a part of the body, for cosmetic or medical purposes; also, an immersion in liquid wax; wax bean U.S. = wax-pod bean below; wax boot, a boot made of waxed leather, for walking in marshy ground; wax-bush, the plant Cuphea viscosissima; wax-butter = butter of wax (see quot.); wax-cloth, cloth coated with wax as a protection from wet; also, oil-cloth for covering floors or tables; wax-cluster Austral., the plant Gualtheria hispida; wax-colour, (a) a pigment ground with wax for encaustic painting; (b) the yellow colour of wax; hence wax-coloured a.; wax-comb, a honeycomb; wax-creeper S. African, a name of two plants with wax-like flowers, Hoya carnosa and Microloma tenuifolium; wax-cup, the hollow at the top of a burning wax candle; wax-end, thread coated with cobblers' wax, used by shoemakers; hence wax-ended a., bound with wax-ends; wax-eye Austral. and N.Z. = silver-eye s.v. SILVER n. and a. 21c; cf. ZOSTEROPS; wax-farthing, a farthing paid by parishioners at Easter to provide wax candles for use in church; wax-gland, a gland (in certain insects) secreting wax; wax-hair, one of the long hairs occurring on the bodies of the young of Psyllidæ or flea-lice; wax-house, a building in a monastery where wax candles were made; wax-insect, an insect producing wax; also attrib.; wax jack, a contrivance designed for holding a coiled taper with its end ready for lighting, to provide a flame for melting sealing wax; wax lathe Watchmaking, a lathe in which the object to be turned is fastened with shellac or sealing-wax; wax-leather, leather ‘waxed’ or finished on the ‘flesh’ side; also attrib.; wax-man, the officer of a trade guild who collected the contributions of the members for the wax candles to be used in the processions; wax-moth, a moth whose larva preys on the honeycomb; wax-mould, (a) a mould for running melted wax into; (b) a mould made of wax; wax museum, a waxworks; also fig.; wax-myrtle = WAX-BERRY a; wax-nose, a ‘nose of wax’ (see NOSE n. 4); hence wax-nosed a.; wax-oil Chem. (see quot.); wax-opal (see quot.); wax-painting, encaustic painting; wax-palm, a name for two S. American wax-yielding palms, Ceroxylon andicola and Corypha or Copernica cerifera; wax-paper (see quot.); wax pear, a variety of pear of a wax-like colour; wax pigment, a pigment prepared with wax; wax-pine, wax-pink (see quots.); wax-pocket Ent., each of the sacs on the abdomen of the bee, for receiving the wax secreted by the wax-glands; wax-pod bean, a dwarf French bean belonging to any of several varieties having yellow, stringless pods; a butter-bean; wax print, cloth patterned by a batik process; wax rose, a variety of rose whose petals have a waxy appearance; wax shoe, a shoe made of waxed leather (cf. wax boot); wax-silver, money paid by parishioners at Easter for wax candles to be used in the church; wax tablet, a board coated with wax, to be written upon with a stylus; wax-weed = wax-bush; wax-worm, the larva of the wax-moth.
1916 Chambers's Jrnl. Oct. 701/1 The *wax-bath has not been found beneficial in chronic rheumatoid arthritis. 1975 Harpers & Queen June 168/1 Sauna, steam cabinet baths, wax baths.
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[1900 L. H. BAILEY Cycl. Amer. Hort. I. 136/2 The Wax or Yellow-podded sorts need a richer soil.] 1905 Outing July 502/2 White bush *wax-beans are best for very early, but the pole varieties are better for late. 1967 R. M. CARLETON Vegetables for To-day's Gardens ii. 14 No one has produced a wax bean with better flavour than Pencil Rod Black Wax.
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1676 SHADWELL Virtuoso II. 29 'Twill be as common to buy a pair of Wings to fly to the World in the Moon, as to buy a pair of *Wax Boots to ride into Sussex with.
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1845-50 A. H. LINCOLN Lect. Bot. II. 96 Cuphea viscosissima (*wax-bush).
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1868 WATTS Dict. Chem. (1877) V. 1036 Beeswax is decomposed by dry distillation, giving off a product which forms, on cooling, a white buttery mass, called *wax-butter, or Butyrum ceræ.
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1816 SCOTT Bl. Dwarf i, The first..having a hat covered with *wax-cloth,..and dreadnought overalls. 1834 CARLYLE Let. to Mrs. Austin (Thorpe's Catal. 1913) Some sort of wax-cloth for a lobby. 1868 Chamb. Encycl. X. 111/2 Wax-cloth, a name sometimes given, but very erroneously, to Floor-cloth (q.v.).
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1834 J. ROSS Van Diemen's Land Ann. 133 Gaultheria hispida. The *wax cluster, abundant in the middle region of Mount Wellington.
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1854 FAIRHOLT Dict. Terms Art s.v. Wax Painting, In Encaustic Painting, the *wax colours were burnt into the ground by means of a hot iron. 1901 Macm. Mag. Apr. 439/2 His sun-burned face turned wax-colour.
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1842 LOUDON Suburban Hort. 581 Varieties of cornel..with *wax-coloured fruit.
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1375 BARBOUR Bruce XI. 368 Thai mycht liknyt be Till ane *vax-cayme that beis mais.
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1890 A. MARTIN Home Life Ostrich Farm 20 The little ‘*wax-creeper,’ than which tiny as it is, I do not think a more perfect flower could be imagined.
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1800 HERSCHEL in Phil. Trans. XC. 463 That the *wax-cup of the candle be kept clean, and never suffered to run over.
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1825 BROCKETT N.C. Gloss., *Wax-end, the waxed thread used by cordwainers. 1838 DICKENS O. Twist vii, ‘I will not, sir,’ replied the beadle, adjusting the wax-end which was twisted round the bottom of his cane for purposes of parochial flagellation. 1888 FENN Dick o' the Fens 68, I could mend all this in less than an hour with some wax-ends and a brad-awl.
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1838 DICKENS Nich. Nick. xiii, A fearful instrument of flagellation, strong, supple, *wax-ended, and new.
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1874 A. BATHGATE Colonial Experiences xvii. 239 While some species are seemingly dying out, others, such as the moko-moko and the *wax-eye..appear to be increasing. 1957 J. FRAME Owls do Cry ix. 39 The wax-eyes hungry for honey, will make their green and yellow cloud to follow her.
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c1588 in Rel. Ant. I. 255 Every house payd at Easter..j farthynge called a *waxfarthinge.
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1899 D. SHARP Insects II. 589 Certain gall~dwelling Aphidae..possess numerous *wax glands.
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Ibid. 580 In these earlier stages the body [of various Psyllidae] bears long hairs called *wax-hairs.
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1385-6 Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees) 391 In factura unius camini in le *Waxhous. 1472-3 Ibid. 413 Cum emendacione unius patelle de le wax~house, 14d.
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1815 KIRBY & SP. Entomol. x. (1818) I. 329 This account is in the main confirmed by Geomelli Careri, except that he calls the *wax-insect a worm which bores to the pith of certain trees. 1857 FORTUNE Resid. among Chinese 147 The wax-insect tree is no doubt a species of ash (fraxinus). 1881 Globe Encycl. VI. 484/1 The Hemipterous family Coccidæ includes the chief wax insects, familiarly known as bark lice.
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1937 Times Lit. Suppl. 13 Mar. 189/2 Such diversities as a coach model, a silver *wax-jack and devices of human hair. 1956 G. TAYLOR Silver v. 114 The wax jack..is a simple framework supporting a horizontal reel which revolves to feed a length of taper up through a central nozzle. 1980 Halcyon Days Catal. 16/1 A bougie box or wax jack (designed to encase a flexible wax taper). South Staffordshire, c. 1770..£520.
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1884 F. J. BRITTEN Watch & Clockm. 139 For many operations required in watch jobbing Mr. Ganney recommends the *wax or cement lathe.
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1711 STEELE Spect. No. 48 4, I am mounted in high-heel'd Shoes with a glased *Wax-leather Instep. 1852 C. MORFIT Tanning & Currying (1853) 152 Wax leather is blackened in the flesh. 1885 Harper's Mag. Jan. 278/1 Wax leather, the serviceable leather for the upper parts of men's boots.
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1766 Complete Farmer s.v. Bee, A small caterpillar, termed the wax-worm, or *wax-moth, because of the havock it makes on wax. 1815 KIRBY & SP. Entomol. xii. (1818) I. 390 The wax-moth larva (Galleria Cereana) will for want of wax eat paper, wafers, wool, etc. 1877 J. G. WOOD Nature's Teach. 151 The Wax-moth, or Galleria-moth (Galleria alvearia)..is in its larval state extremely injurious to beehives.
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a1679 SIR J. MOORE England's Interest (1703) 137 First provide necessary Instruments, as..Honey-Pots, *Wax-Molds. 1849 G. W. FRANCIS Art of Modelling Waxen Flowers 16 Wax moulds for plaster casting, or the electro-type, should have [etc.].
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1963 V. NABOKOV Gift i. 35 A Russian foodshop, which was a kind of wax museum of the old country's cuisine. 1981 J. VALIN Dead Letter viii. 68 There was something a little scarey about this artificial paradise... The place had the shallow charm of a wax museum.
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1813 SIR H. DAVY Agric. Chem. iii. (1814) 96 Wax..is procured in abundance from the berries of the *wax-myrtle. 1884 SARGENT Rep. Forests N. America (10th Census IX) 136 Myrica cerifera..Bayberry. Wax Myrtle.
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a1843 SOUTHEY Commonpl. Bk. (1851) IV. 11 It is fitter for the dotage dreams of Sir William Jones, than the visions of the poet. Let the *wax-nose be tweaked by Volney on one side and Maurice on the other!
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c1615 SYLVESTER Mem. Mortal. II. xciv, Let's leave out I, and No, in Conversation: Words now transposed, and *wax-nosed, Both.
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1852 J. M. HONIGBERGER Thirty-five Yrs. in East I. 69, I kept the wound open for several days, and ordered the swollen parts to be embrocated with *wax-oil. 1868 WATTS Dict. Chem. (1877) V. 1036 [Beeswax gives off wax-butter, and] afterwards a more and more liquid oil, called wax-oil, still retaining a small quantity of solid matter.
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1896 CHESTER Dict. Names Min., *Wax-opal, an early name for yellow opal with a waxy lustre.
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1854 FAIRHOLT Dict. Terms Art, *Wax Painting. This art practised by the ancients under the name of Encaustic, has lately been revived in several countries. 1859 GULLICK & TIMBS Painting 75 Various attempts have been made to re-introduce wax-painting; but the art of pencillum-encaustic, as practised by the ancients, seems to be lost.
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1830 LINDLEY Nat. Syst. Bot. 282 The Ceroxylon andicola, or *Wax Palm of Humboldt, has its trunk covered by a coating of wax, which exudes from the spaces between the insertion of the leaves. 1882 J. SMITH Dict. Pop. Names Plants 436 Wax Palm. There are two so called: 1. Copernicia cerifera, a fan palm native of Brazil... 2. Ceroxylon andicola, a tall wing-leaved palm, native of the elevated regions of New Grenada.
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1844 HOBLYN Dict. Med., *Wax~paper. Charta cerata. Melt, in a water-bath, 48 parts each of white wax and fine turpentine, and 32 parts of spermaceti, and spread on paper.
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1600 SURFLET Country Farm III. xlix. 537 The best..perrie is made of little yellow *waxe peares.
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1854 FAIRHOLT Dict. Terms Art s.v., This medium is employed in making the cakes of *wax-pigments for water~colours.
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1891 Century Dict., *Wax-pine, the general name for the species of Agathis (Dammara), coniferous trees producing a large amount of resin.
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Ibid., *Wax-pink, a name for garden species of Portulaca: so called from their wax-like leaves and showy flowers.
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1815 KIRBY & SP. Entomol. xv. (1818) I. 492 The apparatus in which the wax is secreted consists of four pair of membranous bags or *wax-pockets.
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[1913 L. C. CORBETT Garden Farming ix. 136 A different variety..may have either green or wax pods.] 1921 Culture of Vegetables & Flowers (Sutton & Sons) (ed. 16) 24 Many visitors to the Continent have learned to appreciate the fine qualities of the *Waxpod Beans. 1951 [see BUTTER-BEAN]. 1962 Amateur Gardening 5 May 19 The golden waxpod beans have always attracted a good deal of attention.
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1969 Times 24 Nov. (Congo Suppl.) p. iv/3 English Calico is planning a factory to manufacture 20m. yards of ‘*wax prints’ a year. 1979 Guardian 8 June 17/3 Accra's famous market mammies have their stalls..broken into..and their contentswaxprint cloth, provisions,..taken away.
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1837 RIVERS Rose Amateur's G. 18 Duchess d'Angoulême, or the *wax rose, is an old but deservedly favourite variety.
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1664 WOOD Life (O.H.S.) II. 20 For a paire of *wax shoes [cf. below 1666, waxt shoes], 4s. 4d. 1692 SIR J. FOULIS Acc. Bk. (S.H.S.) 144 For 2 pair wax shoes.
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1432 in Glasscock Rec. St. Michael's, Bp.'s Stortford (1882) 3 Et in *wexsilver collecto in ecclesia in die Paschali, vijs. viijd. 1496 Cov. Leet Bk. 574 Item, that no maister make no brother to e Craft yf he haue be prentes in e Cite no lesse en xiijs. iiij d. & his wax siluer.
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1807 DOUCE Illustr. Shaks. II. 228 The Roman practice of writing on *wax tablets with a stile was continued also during the middle ages. 1905 J. B. BURY Life St. Patrick iii. 40 Honoratus sent a messenger across in a boat with a letter on a wax tablet.
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1884 W. MILLER Plant-n. I. 144 *Wax-weed, Blue, Cuphea viscosissima. 1766 *Wax-worm [see wax-moth].
― ambrose (ambrose), Thursday, 21 October 2004 12:58 (twenty-one years ago)
two years pass...