Ear-wax

[f. EAR sb.¹] A viscid secretion that collects in the external meatus of the ear.

1398.  Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XVII. v. (1495), 606. Eere wexe is put thereto to make it [aloes wood] somdeale bytter and redde.

1519.  Horman, Vulg., 27 b. Earewaxe doth stop the entrynge from small bestis.

1573.  Art of Limming, 2. If there stand anye belles vppon the sise, put in eare waxe, for it ys a remedy therefore.

1614.  T. Adams, in Spurgeon, Treas. Dav., Ps. xxvi. 10. Far be from our souls … that the ear … should be stopped with the earwax of partiality.

1791.  E. Darwin, Bot. Gard., II. 20, note. The ear-wax in animals seems to be in part designed to prevent insects from getting into their ears.

1876.  Quain, Anat. (ed. 8), II. 631. The cerumen or ear-wax is secreted by these glands.