1. A maker of wax or of wax candles. ? Obs.
14[?]. Nom., in Wr.-Wülcker, 688/22. Hic cerarius,… whax-maker.
1483. Cath. Angl., 411/2. A Wax maker, cerarius.
1515. Guild Bk. St. Mary, Boston (MS.), fol. 15. In stipendio Willielmi Pynnell Waxmaker.
1543. Star Chamber Cases (Selden Soc.), II. 271. Maister Anthony Payne wex-maker.
2. A worker-bee that makes wax.
Translating Huber’s term (abeille) cirière.
1815. Kirby & Sp., Entomol., xv. (1818), I. 493. When wax is not wanted in the hive, the wax-makers disgorge their honey into the cells. Ibid. (1816), xix. II. 128. There are two sorts of workers, the wax-makers and nurses.
1835. Partington’s Brit. Cycl. Nat. Hist., I. 354/1.
So Wax-making vbl. sb. and ppl. a.
1543. Star Chamber Cases (Selden Soc.), II. 271. Costes and Paymentes of the wex makynges.
1815. Kirby & Sp., Entomol., xv. (1818), I. 492. The stomach … in the wax-making bees is much larger than in the nurse-bees.
