Also 4–5 wexe, pa. pple. waxed, -yd, ywexede. [f. WAX sb.1
The ME. form wexe may be an umlaut derivative (= ON. vexa, OHG. wahsen, MHG. wihsen, mod.G. wächsen, wichsen); but this is not certain, because wex was a frequent form of WAX sb.1]
1. trans. To cover with a layer of wax; to dress with wax; to polish or stiffen with a dressing of wax. Also with over.
a. 1380. [see WAXED ppl. a.].
c. 1391. Chaucer, Astrol., II. § 40. Tho tok I & wexede my label in Maner of a peyre tables.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XIX. lxi. (1495), 898. Tables ben wexed and dressid wyth wexe and ben planyd. Ibid. For diuers vse lynnen clothes ben wexyd.
c. 1400. Master of Game (MS. Digby 182), xxi. Þat one manere [of horn] is waxed with grene wex and gretter of sowne. Ibid. A good hunters horne shuld … be wele ywexede, þikker or þinner, after at þe hunter þinketh þat it woll best sowne.
1580. Hollyband, Treas. Fr. Tong, Cirer, to waxe.
1615. trans. De Monfart’s Surv. E. Indies, 40. As a Shoomaker waxeth his thred.
1659. H. Turbervil, Walk Knaves Walk, 8. You are to take notice … next of the manner, how to wax your winter boots.
1661. [T. Powell], Hum. Industry, 56. Smal boards or tables of wood waxed over, were in frequent use among the later Romans to write in.
1825. J. Nicholson, Operat. Mechanic, 745. Many cabinet-makers are contented with waxing common furniture.
1833. [S. Smith], Lett. J. Downing, xxii. (1835), 131. With that I wax’d a thread, and got a new button.
1848. Dickens, Dombey, liv. The floors were waxed and polished.
1863. Miss Braddon, Aurora Floyd, iii. The elegant ignoramus whose sole accomplishments consist in parting his hair, waxing his moustaches, and smoking a meerschaum.
1886. J. H. Keene, Fishing Tackle, 160. Waxing your silk afresh, fasten it with two loops.
† b. Photogr. To saturate (paper) with wax. Obs.
1853. Le Gray’s Waxed Paper Process, 5. The paper … after the development of the image … does not require to be again waxed to obtain a positive picture.
1856. Orr’s Circ. Sci., Pract. Chem., 146. Mode of Waxing the Negatives.
† 2. To stop (an aperture) with or as with wax. Also with up. Obs.
1377. Langl., P. Pl., B. V. 351. Alle þat herde þat horne … wissheden it had be wexed with a wispe of firses.
1697. Dampier, Voy., I. 231. Some of them that had not waxt up their Cartrage or Catouche Boxes, wet all their Powder.
1709. T. Robinson, Vind. Mosaick Syst., 91. They … fill their little Cells with Honey, and then do so wax it up, that it may not melt and run out.
† 3. To join with wax. Obs. rare.
1693. Dryden, Ovid’s Met., I. Transform. Syrinx, 36. He form’d the Reeds, proportion’d as they are: Unequal in their length, and wax’d with care.
4. Leather-manuf. To dress (a skin) with a mixture of lamp-black, oil, etc.
1885. A. Watt, Leather Manuf., 348. Bruise on the flesh and grain up, then wax them [sc. the skins].
