waxworkn.
/ˈwakswəːk/, U.S. /ˈwæksˌwərk/ 1. Work executed in wax.
ΘΠ
society > occupation and work > industry > manufacturing processes > making of other specific articles or materials > [noun] > work done in specific materials
straw-worka1684
waxwork1723
1723 R. Blackmore Alfred ii. 67 Th' industrious Tenants of the narrow Hive..fetch Home Spoils their Wax-works to renew.
2. figurative.1858 W. E. Gladstone Stud. Homer III. 512 Homer gives us figures that breathe and move. Virgil usually treats us to waxwork.
a. esp. Modelling in wax; an object or objects modelled in wax; usually applied to life-size effigies of persons, with head, hands, and bust of wax, coloured and clothed to look like life.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > plastic art > modelling > [noun] > in wax
waxwork1697
society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > plastic art > modelling > [noun] > model > in wax
man of wax1503
waxwork1697
waxworks1774
wax1844
ceroplastics1882
1697 Post Boy 20–3 Nov. 2/2 At the Golden Salmon in St. Martins, near Aldersgate, is to be seen, in Wax-work, about Fifty Figures, all big as the Life.
1701 in Publ. Catholic Rec. Soc. (1909) 7 103 Ye Procession which began before 7 with 12 Pageants of History in large Wax Work.
a1704 T. Brown Walk round London in 3rd Vol. Wks. (1708) iii. 49 Here stood Edward the Third, as they told us, which was a broken piece of Wax-work, a batter'd Head, and a Straw-stuff'd Body.
1774 J. Wesley Jrnl. 24 Jan. I was desired by Mrs. Wright, of New-York, to let her take my effigy in wax-work.
1841 C. Dickens Old Curiosity Shop i. xxvii. 243 I've seen wax-work quite like life.
1864 C. Dickens Our Mutual Friend (1865) I. i. ix. 75 ‘It's no good my being kept here like Wax-Work, is it now?’ ‘People have to pay to see Wax-Work, my dear,’ returned her husband.
b. plural.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > plastic art > modelling > [noun] > model > in wax
man of wax1503
waxwork1697
waxworks1774
wax1844
ceroplastics1882
1774 O. Goldsmith Hist. Earth II. 267 Of Mummies, Wax-Works, &c.
1896 S. Butler Life & Lett. Dr. S. Butler I. 228 This can only be surpassed..by Dr. Arnold's taking the terracotta figures of the Varese chapels for waxworks.
3. An exhibition of wax figures representing celebrated or notorious characters; also, the place of exhibition. Now plural.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > plastic art > modelling > [noun] > model > in wax > specific collection
pantheon1711
waxwork1763
Chamber of Horrors1856
wax museum1963
1763 J. Boswell Jrnl. 4 July in London Jrnl. (1950) 289 I went and saw Mrs. Salmon's famous wax-work in Fleet Street.
1773 Duchess of Northumberland Diary (1926) 207 The Tower, the Venetian Lady, Westminster Abbey, Salmon's Waxworks.
1796 T. Morton Way to get Married v. i. 76 You must show me the sights—The lions at the Tower,..the parliament-house, and the wax-work.
1806 J. Beresford Miseries Human Life I. vii. 171 Escorting two or three coaches full of country-cousins..to the Lions, the Wax-work, the Monument, &c.
1831 Cruchley's Pict. London 112 Wax Works. Fleet Street.
1843 W. M. Thackeray Ravenswing ii, in Fraser's Mag. May 599/1 He looked like a figure out of a wax-work.
1895 Sir H. Irving in Daily News 17 June 6/4 ‘You didn't go [to the Lyceum]! Why not?’ ‘Well, sir, you see there's the missus, and she preferred the wax-works.’
4. U.S. The climbing bitter-sweet, Celastrus scandens; so called from the waxy scarlet aril of the fruit.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > particular plants > plants and herbs > climbing or creeping plants > non-British climbing or creeping plants > [noun] > North American
woodbine1624
Virginia vine1629
staff-tree1633
Virginia creeper?1703
climbing vine1760
mayflower1778
pepper vine1783
arbutus1785
trailing arbutus1785
pipe vine1803
Ampelopsis1805
ground-laurel1814
waxwork1818
ivory plum1828
fever twig1830
yerba buena1847
mountain pink1850
New England mayflower1855
creeping snowberry1856
Virginian creeper1856
May blossom1871
sand verbena1880
staff-vine1884
1818 W. P. C. Barton Compendium Floræ Philadelphicæ I. 128 Wax Work. A climbing plant frequently reaching the tops of trees.
1856 A. Gray Man. Bot. Northern U.S. (1860) 81 Celastrus scandens (Wax-work. Climbing Bitter-sweet).
Compounds
C1. attributive and in other combinations, as waxwork-figure, waxwork-show.
Π
1827 S. Smith Wks. (1859) II. 131/1 There is a wax-work Pope, and a wax-work Court of Rome.
1841 C. Dickens Old Curiosity Shop i. xxvii. 242 Mrs. Jarley's wax-work show.
1841 C. Dickens Old Curiosity Shop i. xxix. 254 She slept..in the room where the wax-work figures were.
1889 R. Buchanan in Contemp. Rev. Dec. 912 The highway is strewn with the corpses of dead poets who never lived,..with loud inglorious Cowleys, with waxwork Popes.
1898 T. Watts-Dunton Aylwin viii. i The House of Commons has become a bear-garden, and t'other House a wax-work show.
C2.
waxwork-man n. the proprietor of a waxworks.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > plastic art > modelling > [noun] > modeller > proprietor of waxworks
waxwork-man1836
1836 C. Dickens Sketches by Boz 1st Ser. II. 210 Whenever a juggler, or wax-work man, or concert-giver, takes Great Winglebury in his circuit.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1926; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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