wax
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: enpr: wăks
ipa: /wæks/
enpr: wĕks
ipa: /wɛks/
rhymes: -æks
homophone: whacks
homophone: wacks (wine–whine merger)
Forms: form: waxes
form: waxing
form: waxed
form: wex
form: wox
form: waxed
form: wex
form: wox
form: waxen
Etymology: 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. It is in its turn cognate with augeo. See eke.
Senses: examples: text: Holonym: wax and wane
text: And then the whole quire hold their hips and laugh,
 And waxen in their mirth and neeze and swear
 A merrier hour was never wasted there.
ref: c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “A Midsommer Nights Dreame”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]:
text: For nature, crescent, does not grow alone
 In thews and bulks, but, as this temple waxes, The inward service of the mind and soul
 Grows wide withal.
ref: c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii], page 155:
text: And so it had always pleased M. Stutz to expect great things from the dark young man whom he had first seen in his early twenties ; and his expectations had waxed rather than waned on hearing the faint bruit of the love of Ivor and Virginia—for Virginia, M. Stutz thought, would bring fineness to a point in a man like Ivor Marlay, […].
ref: 1922, Michael Arlen, “Ep./1/1”, in “Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days:
antonyms: wane
glosses: To greaten.
examples: text: to wax poetic
translation: to become increasingly verbose
english: to become increasingly verbose
text: to wax wode
translation: to become angry
english: to become angry
text: to wax eloquent
text: Ah, ſirrah, by my ſay, it waxes late:
 I’ll to my reſt.
ref: c. 1591–1595 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene v]:
text: He waxes desperate with imagination.
ref: c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii], page 257:
text: As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit: therefore they are become great, and waxen rich.
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Jeremiah 5:27:
text: You behold, Sir, how he waxeth Wroth at your Abode here.
ref: 1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume 2, London: Millar, →OCLC, page 289:
text: The stars grew pale and paler still till at last they vanished; the golden moon waxed wan, and her mountain ridges stood out against her sickly face.
ref: 1885, H. Rider Haggard, chapter 5, in King Solomon's Mines:
text: In the night, or the gloomy chambers of the day, fears and misgivings wax strong, but out in the sunlight there is, for a time, cessation even of the terror of death.
ref: 1900, Theodore Dreiser, Sister Carrie:
synonyms: grow#Verb
become#Verb
get#Verb
glosses: To increasingly assume the specified characteristic.
glosses: To appear larger each night as a progression from a new moon to a full moon.
raw_tags: of the moon
glosses: To move from low tide to high tide.
raw_tags: of the tide
Derived terms: sense: terms derived from wax (verb) ("grow or become")
word: outwax
sense: terms derived from wax (verb) ("grow or become")
word: over-wax
sense: terms derived from wax (verb) ("grow or become")
word: overwax
sense: terms derived from wax (verb) ("grow or become")
word: thorough-wax
sense: terms derived from wax (verb) ("grow or become")
word: thoroughwax
sense: terms derived from wax (verb) ("grow or become")
word: thorow-wax
sense: terms derived from wax (verb) ("grow or become")
word: through-waxen
sense: terms derived from wax (verb) ("grow or become")
word: unwax
sense: terms derived from wax (verb) ("grow or become")
word: wax and wane
sense: terms derived from wax (verb) ("grow or become")
word: wax forth
sense: terms derived from wax (verb) ("grow or become")
word: wax in age
sense: terms derived from wax (verb) ("grow or become")
word: wax in eld
sense: terms derived from wax (verb) ("grow or become")
word: waxing moon
sense: terms derived from wax (verb) ("grow or become")
word: wax lyrical
sense: terms derived from wax (verb) ("grow or become")
word: wax poetic
sense: terms derived from wax (verb) ("grow or become")
word: wax to man's estate
sense: terms derived from wax (verb) ("grow or become")
word: wax wode
Related terms: sense: terms related to wax (verb) ("grow, become")
word: forthwax
sense: terms related to wax (verb) ("grow, become")
word: forwax
sense: terms related to wax (verb) ("grow, become")
word: packwax
sense: terms related to wax (verb) ("grow, become")
word: paxwax
sense: terms related to wax (verb) ("grow, become")
word: paxwaxy
sense: terms related to wax (verb) ("grow, become")
word: taxwax
sense: terms related to wax (verb) ("grow, become")
word: woadwaxen
sense: terms related to wax (verb) ("grow, become")
word: woad-waxen
sense: terms related to wax (verb) ("grow, become")
word: wood-wax
sense: terms related to wax (verb) ("grow, become")
word: wood-waxen
sense: terms related to wax (verb) ("grow, become")
word: woodwax
sense: terms related to wax (verb) ("grow, become")
word: woodwaxen