virgin waxn.
/ˈvəːdʒɪn waks/, U.S. /ˈvərdʒən ˌwæks/ Originally: fresh, new, or unused bees-wax, sometimes that produced by the first swarm of bees. In later and more general use: a purified or fine quality of wax, esp. as used in the making of candles; white wax.
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society > occupation and work > materials > derived or manufactured material > waxy materials > [noun] > pure wax
virgin waxc1400
maiden-wax1726
the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > order Hymenoptera > [noun] > suborder Apocrita, Petiolata, or Heterophaga > group Aculeata (stinging) > superfamily Apoidea (bees) > wax
wax805
virgin waxc1400
medewax1416
pissoceros1658
mitys1706
maiden-wax1726
α.
figurative.a1586 Sir P. Sidney Arcadia (1590) ii. xii. sig. X5v You vse vile Vulcans spight..to melt that Virgin-waxe Which while it is, it is all Asias light.attributive.1599 T. Nashe Lenten Stuffe 38 The most intenerate Virgine wax phisnomy.1654 E. Gayton Pleasant Notes Don Quixot iv. viii. 223 The convoy presently departed, leaving him..with a Virgin-waxe-light, in a golden Candle~stick.β. 1495 Trevisa's Bartholomeus De Proprietatibus Rerum (de Worde) xix. lxi. sig. kkvi/2 The more newe wexe is the better it smellyth and is..the more able to take inpressyon & pryntynge of dyuers fygures & shapes..And suche wexe is callyd Vyrgyns wexe [a1398 BL Add. virgyne wexe].1535 Inventory Wardrobe Katharine of Arragon 41 in Camden Misc. (1855) III Item, seevyn hoolle tapers of vyrgyn's waxe.1567 J. Maplet Greene Forest f. 37 Cerfolie..being wrought & tempered with Virgins Waxe, remedieth all kinde of swelling.1607 T. Walkington Optick Glasse 39 The purest virgins wax.1658 J. Rowland tr. T. Moffett Theater of Insects in Topsell's Hist. Four-footed Beasts (rev. ed.) 915 Simple and natural Wax is the thicker part of the combs that contains the honey; and it is either virgins wax, or of a second sort; virgins wax is that the younger swarms of Bees make from the young branches of flowers. (That is the first Swarm put into a new Hive.)1660 R. Boyle New Exper. Physico-mechanicall x. 76 Slender Tapers of white Wax (commonly called Virgins Wax).1736 N. Bailey Dict. Domesticum at Eye-salve Take one ounce of May butter, half an ounce of virgins wax [etc.].c1400 (?a1300) Kyng Alisaunder (Laud) (1952) l. 334 He took virgyne waxe And made a popet after þe quene.
c1425 tr. J. Arderne Treat. Fistula (Sloane 6) (1910) 30 (MED) Þan putte to a litle oyle of olyue..wiþ als miche virgine wax togidre dissolued at þe fire by it self.
Promptorium Parvulorum (Harl. 221) 510 Vyrgyne wex, cera virginea.
1502 in J. B. Paul Accts. Treasurer Scotl. (1900) II. 37 Payit to Robert Bertoune for virgyne wax that he brocht hame to the King.
1538 in W. M. Williams Ann. Founders' Co. (1867) 55 The Herse to be garnyshed with xxx other great Tapers with ij Branches of Virgyn waxes.
c1560 (a1500) Squyr Lowe Degre (Copland) l. 688 She sered that body with specery, With wyrgin waxe and commendry.
1594 H. Plat Jewell House 57 An excellent cement for broken glasses. Take one part of Virgin-wax [etc.].
1626 T. Hawkins tr. N. Caussin Holy Court I. 9 He hath imprinted all his perfections vpon our Sauiour..as one should impresse a golden seale vpon virgin-waxe.
1645 J. Howell Epistolæ Ho-elianæ i. xviii. 38 They say, the young Kings Picture was found in her Closet in Virgin Wax.
a1711 T. Ken Hymnotheo in Wks. (1721) III. 310 Like Virgin-Wax, he soft'ned the hard Bone, And wrought it till to female shape 'twas grown.
1795 W. Blake Lett. (1906) 54 Take a cake of virgin wax..and stroke it..over the surface of a warm plate.
1821 W. Scott Kenilworth I. vi. 121 Besides lesser lights, the withdrawing-room was illuminated by four tall torches of virgin wax.
1861 R. T. Hulme tr. C. H. Moquin-Tandon Elements Med. Zool. ii. iii. ccix Wax which has been completely deprived of its colour is called virgin or white wax.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1917; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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