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# wax

«wax» in Mova's school dictionary: **a soft material that melts when warm, used to make…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

noun (wax); verb (wax, waxes, waxed, waxing)

### meaning for a pupil

1) Wax is a soft material that melts when warm, used to make candles and crayons. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/W/wax/#m1)

2) Bees make wax for their honeycomb. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/W/wax/#m2)

3) To wax something is to rub wax on it to make it shiny or smooth, like a car or a floor. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/W/wax/#m3)

4) Earwax is the soft yellow stuff in your ears. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/W/wax/#m4)

5) The moon waxes when it looks bigger each night. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/W/wax/#m5)

6) Wax can also mean to grow gradually stronger or to become more of something, such as angry or furious. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/W/wax/#m6)

### sense in the lessons

In school maths: an amount of material measured to make candles; material per item is a rate; things waxed. In science: wax melts when heated and goes hard when it cools (a reversible change); bees make beeswax; the moon waxes and wanes. In everyday life: candles, crayons, wax seals, waxed jackets. Phrases: «candle wax», «beeswax», «wax and wane».

### examples

- Each candle needs 200 grams of wax. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/W/wax/#x1)
- She has 1 kg of wax. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/W/wax/#x2)
- How many candles can she make? [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/W/wax/#x3)
- He waxed 4 cars. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/W/wax/#x4)
- The candle wax melted and dripped onto the table. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/W/wax/#x5)
- Bees build their honeycomb out of wax. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/W/wax/#x6)
- The moon is waxing, so it will be full next week. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/W/wax/#x7)
- We drew with wax crayons and then painted over them. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/W/wax/#x8)
- Meanwhile, the battle waxed more and more furious. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/W/wax/#x9)

### note

Wax is uncountable: «some wax», «a lump of wax». Melting wax is a reversible change, but burning a candle is not. Maths: material per item is a rate; items made = material ÷ amount per item, and leftover wax is a remainder. Change kilograms to grams first (1 kg is 1000 grams). Safety: hot wax burns.

### In the corpora

- [In late summer the beekeeper slices the wax caps off heavy frames and spins the honey out in a drum called an extractor.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/344-honey-and-the-beekeepers-year/6/)
- [Real honey sits in wax cells, and the bees would not hand it over so politely.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/344-honey-and-the-beekeepers-year/10/)
- [In a lava lamp, wax heated at the bottom expands, becomes less dense and rises, then cools and sinks.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chemistry/7-oil-and-water/12/)
- [Burning wax joins its carbon and hydrogen with oxygen and makes carbon dioxide and water vapour.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chemistry/11-the-candle-and-burning/10/)
- [Cotton buds push wax deeper and can hurt the eardrum.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/77-hair-nails-and-ears/14/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «wax» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/W/wax/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.