wax

Pronunciation

• enPR: wăks
• IPA ^(key): /wæks/
• SAMPA: /w{ks/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Homophones

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

Noun

Singular wax

Plural waxes

Beeswax

1. (uncountable) 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 and increase
   • Antonyms: wane and shrink

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