wax

Meaning

Noun

1. (countable, uncountable) Beeswax.
2. (countable, uncountable) Earwax.
3. (countable, uncountable) Any oily, water-resistant, solid or semisolid substance; normally long-chain hydrocarbons, alcohols or esters.
4. (countable, uncountable) Any preparation containing wax, used as a polish.
5. (informal, uncountable) The phonograph record format for music.
6. (US, countable, dialectal, uncountable) A thick syrup made by boiling down the sap of the sugar maple and then cooling it.
7. (US, countable, slang, uncountable) Any of a class of drugs with weed oil and butane as main ingredients; hash oil.

Adj

Made of wax.

Verb

To coat with wax or a similar material.

Verb

1. (transitive) To apply wax to (something, such as a shoe, a floor, a car, or an apple), usually to make it shiny.
2. (transitive) To remove hair at the roots from (a part of the body) by coating the skin with a film of wax that is then pulled away sharply.
3. (informal, transitive) To defeat utterly.
4. (slang, transitive) To kill, especially to murder a person.
5. (archaic, transitive, usually) To record.

Verb

1. (intransitive, literary) To greaten.
2. (copulative, intransitive, literary) To increasingly assume the specified characteristic.
3. (intransitive) To appear larger each night as a progression from a new moon to a full moon.
4. (intransitive) To move from low tide to high tide.

Opposite of

wane

Synonyms

grow

beeswax

polish

🇵🇱

increase

candle

🕯️

accrue

rise

mount

full

tallow

augment

climb

lacker

cere

amplify

cerumen

flourish

progress

prosper

varnish

become

get

grease

aggrandize

develop

heighten

earwax

suet

swell

thrive

oil

proliferate

raise

razor

🪒

row

rub

shaver

shine

ski wax

spoilt

stem

step up

vegetate

waxing

waxy

worn out

bourgeon

increase up

Beeswax

beef fat

Translations

cire

cera

Wachs

cera

κερί

cera

was

🧽

croître

crescere

wassen

🧽

wachsen

crescer

cera

cera

Pronounced as (IPA)

/wæks/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: wax

Inherited from Old English: weax

Cognate with Saterland Frisian: Woaks

Cognate with Western Frisian: waaks

Cognate with Dutch: was

Cognate with German: Wachs

Cognate with Norwegian: voks

Cognate with Lithuanian: vaškas

Inherited from Middle English: waxen

Inherited from Old English: weaxan

Cognate with Scots: wax

Cognate with Western Frisian: waakse

Cognate with Low German: wassen

Cognate with Dutch: wassen

Cognate with German: wachsen

Cognate with Danish: -

Cognate with Norwegian: -

Cognate with Swedish: växa

Cognate with Icelandic: vaxa

Cognate with Gothic: 𐍅𐌰𐌷𐍃𐌾𐌰𐌽

Cognate with Ancient Greek: ἀέξω

Cognate with Latin: auxilium

In summary

From Middle English wax, from Old English weax, from Proto-Germanic *wahsą, possibly from Proto-Indo-European *woḱ-so-.
Cognate with Saterland Frisian Woaks (“wax”), West Frisian waaks (“wax”), Dutch was (“wax”), German Wachs (“wax”), German Low German Wass (“wax”), Luxembourgish Wuess (“wax”), Vilamovian wāhs (“wax”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk voks (“wax”), Faroese vaks (“wax”), Icelandic, Swedish vax (“wax”); and with Lithuanian vaškas (“wax”), Proto-Slavic *voskъ (“wax”).