wax
n. C / Un. a solid, oily substance that melts easily when it gets warm. You usually see it in candles or use it to make surfaces like floors and cars shiny.
n. a solid, yellowish or white substance secreted by honeybees or derived from petroleum and plants. It is characterized by its low melting point and insolubility in water.
The candle wax dripped onto the wooden table.
She applied a thin layer of wax to the surfboard to improve her grip while riding the waves.
The museum features life-sized figures crafted from pigmented wax, capturing every minute detail of the historical figures' facial expressions and clothing textures.
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”).
From Middle English waxen, from the noun (see above).
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.
Uncertain; probably from phrases like to wax angry, wax wode, and similar (see Etymology 2, above).
Uncountable when referring to the substance in general; countable when referring to specific types or applications of the material.