wax

wax is part of the Basic English 850.

Pronunciation

• enPR: wăks
• IPA: /wæks/
• SAMPA: /w{ks/
•  Audio (US)^{help, file}

Homophones

• (in accents with the wine-whine merger) whacks

Noun

Singular wax

Plural waxes

Beeswax

1. Wax is a solid material made of animal fat.

   A candle is made of wax and a thick thread and has a flame on top.

Verb

Plain form wax

Third-person singular waxes

Past tense waxed

Past participle waxed

Present participle waxing

1. If you wax something, you put wax on it, for example, a car.

   She waxed her car to make the paint shine brightly.

2. When something waxes, it means that it gets bigger and becomes more full.
   • Synonyms: grow, increase
   • Antonyms: wane, shrink

   As the moon changes from a new moon to a full moon, it is said to be waxing.

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