a. sb. Any one of numerous small birds of the Ploceidæ or Weaver-bird family, whose bills have a waxy appearance; esp. one of the genus Estrelda, the best-known species being E. astrild of South Africa.
1751. G. Edwards, Nat. Hist. Birds, iv. 179. The Wax Bill…. The Bill is of … a fine red Colour, like Sealing-Wax, which I suppose gave the Bird its Name.
1769. Lady Mary Coke, Jrnl., 19 Aug. (1892), III. 137. The two little birds the East India Capt. gave me … seem to be the same as some of the Duchess of Montagu’s and I think she calls them wax bills.
1851–61. Mayhew, Lond. Labour, II. 72. In St. Helena birds, known also as wax-bills and red-backs, there is a trade to the same extent.
1875–84. R. B. Sharpe, Layard’s Birds S. Africa, 470. Estrelda incana, Sundev. South African Grey Waxbill.
1909. Westm. Gaz., 17 July, 14/3. The name waxbill is another of those misleading trade names that cover many species of small birds of different genera which have brightly coloured bills resembling sealing-wax.
b. attrib. or adj. = next.
1776. P. Brown, Illustr. Zool., 72. White-tailed Wax-bill Finch.
1783. Latham, Gen. Synopsis Birds, II. I. 152. Wax-bill Grosbeak.
