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Waxy   /wˈæksi/   Listen
Waxy

adjective
1.
Made of or covered with wax.  Synonym: waxen.  "Careful, the floor is waxy"
2.
Easily impressed or influenced.  Synonyms: impressible, impressionable.  "An impressionable age" , "A waxy mind"
3.
Capable of being bent or flexed or twisted without breaking.  Synonyms: bendable, pliable, pliant.  "A pliant young tree"
4.
Having the paleness of wax.  Synonyms: waxen, waxlike.  "The soldier turned his waxlike features toward him" , "A thin face with a waxy paleness"






WordNet 3.0 © 2010 Princeton University








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"Waxy" Quotes from Famous Books



... suspicion of unfairness or temper on Aspinall's part, I fancied that Acton was getting rather nettled at his frequent upsets. He was, I considered, heavier than Aspinall, and much taller, so I was both rather waxy and astonished to find that he was infusing a little too much vigour into his tackling, and, not to put too fine a point on it, was playing a trifle roughly. Aspinall was bundled over the touch-line ...
— Acton's Feud - A Public School Story • Frederick Swainson

... summit of the ridge, and stood upon a bare rock platform, scantily sheltered by a few trees, large shrubs rather, with a smooth waxy leaf of vivid green. On the left rose the great mass of the peak. From far above among its crags a beautiful foamy waterfall came hurtling down. Before me the ground fell away to the level of the low plateau, or mesa, as we say ...
— Spanish Doubloons • Camilla Kenyon

... the face of the moors and the marshes. Yellow gorse starred with golden clumps the brown hillside; wild lavender gleamed in patches across the silver-streaked marshes; the dead hedges came blossoming into life. Crocuses, long lines of yellow and purple crocuses, broke from waxy buds into starlike blossoms along the front of Matthew Nicholls's garden. And with the coming o spring, Tavernake found himself suddenly able to thin of the past. It was a new phase of life. He could sit down ...
— The Tempting of Tavernake • E. Phillips Oppenheim

... crucifixes, holy-water basins, folio bibles, death's-heads and poniards adorned the enlivening interior. Several Zurbarans, real or false, representing monks and martyrs, hung on the walls, frightening visitors with their grimaces. These sombre tints are intended to contrast with the waxy cheeks and painted eyes of the lady who looks more like the ghost than the mistress of this dwelling; for she does not inhabit, she ...
— The Cross of Berny • Emile de Girardin

... wrapping herself up in a white cottony exudation; many species nearly allied to the true Coccus infest common plants about gardens, such as the Nerium Oleander, Plumeria Acuminata, and others with milky juices; another subgenus (Ceroplastes?), the female of which produces a protecting waxy material, infests the Gendurassa Vulgaris, the Furrcaea Gigantea, the Jak Tree, Mango, and other ...
— Sketches of the Natural History of Ceylon • J. Emerson Tennent

... and turned pale, and her long nose became an unpleasant waxy colour like a corpse's, and Laptev still could not unclasp her fingers. She had fainted. He lifted her up carefully, laid her on her bed, and sat by her for ten minutes till she came to herself. Her hands were cold, her ...
— The Darling and Other Stories • Anton Chekhov

... place them on the grate of a hot oven (500 degrees F.). (Potatoes should be baked in a hot oven, to prevent them from becoming waxy or soggy.) Bake until soft when tested with a fork or knitting needle, usually 50 to 60 minutes. Break the skin at once to allow the steam to escape, or make two gashes in the top of each potato, one at right angles to the other. Gently press the potato so that ...
— School and Home Cooking • Carlotta C. Greer

... is characterized by an unusually high percentage of volatile matter, which causes it to ignite easily. This material has a dull luster and a conchoidal fracture. It is composed almost entirely of the spores and spore cases, which are resinous or waxy products, of such plants as lived in the ...
— The Economic Aspect of Geology • C. K. Leith

... to it. Hedges of lantana were not new to him, they were common from end to end of the island; but not until now had he appreciated the warm magenta coloring of gorgeous poinsettias and bougainvillea, the glowing-hearted, waxy white flowers of frangipani; not until now did he realize the prodigality of Nature towards Java in the matter of weird ...
— Gold Out of Celebes • Aylward Edward Dingle

... cigarettos. Beside these two, the Chinese and the Californians, but one other class seemed to be moving with any deliberation. These were men seen generally alone, or at most in pairs. They were quiet, waxy pale, dressed always neatly in soft black hat, white shirt, long black coat, and varnished boots. In the face of a general gabble they seemed to remain indifferently silent, self-contained and aloof. To occasional salutations they responded briefly ...
— Gold • Stewart White

... that's obvious at a glance. Though how it's got here I can't tell yet. It isn't stuff you can read off like a newspaper. The character's a variant on any of those that have been discovered so far. And as for this waxy stuff spread over the talc, it's unique. It's some sort of a mineral, I think: perhaps asphalt. It doesn't scratch up like animal wax. I'll analyse that later. Why they once invented it, and then let such a splendid notion drop out of use, ...
— The Lost Continent • C. J. Cutcliffe Hyne

... foliage, and touching here and there with gold the giant trunks and limbs of the forest trees. The earth around us was thickly carpeted with long grass interspersed with dense fern-brakes, and here and there a magnificent clump of aloes, their long waxy leaves and delicate white blossoms standing out in strong relief against the blaze of intense scarlet or the rich vivid green of a neighbouring bush. The early morning air was cool, pure, and refreshing as it gently fanned our fevered temples and wafted to us a ...
— The Congo Rovers - A Story of the Slave Squadron • Harry Collingwood

... proportion of water relative to the cloth. This concentration of effect is of importance in flax cloth, and especially linen treatment, where the peculiarly resistant cutocelluloses have to be attacked and a considerable proportion of waxy by-products to be removed. These points are the basis of the special process of Cross and Parkes [Engl. Pat. 25,076/ 99] for steaming flax (and cotton) goods with an emulsion containing, in addition to the special hydrolysing ...
— Researches on Cellulose - 1895-1900 • C. F. Cross

... bottom of the clear glass tank on the yellow sand, apparently seeing nothing—you could not tell in which way his beady, black buttons of eyes were looking—but apparently they were never off the body of the squid. The latter, pale and waxy in texture, looking very much like pork fat or jade, moved about in torpedo fashion; but his movements were apparently never out of the eyes of his enemy, for by degrees small portions of his body began to disappear, snapped off by the relentless claws of his pursuer. The lobster ...
— The Financier • Theodore Dreiser

... recognize; but will an interview tend to forward that useful result? Friedrich, in the intervals of an ague, with Herstal just broken out, may have wisely decided, No. "Our sublime little Uncle, of the waxy complexion, with the proudly staring fish-eyes,—no wit in him, not much sense, and a great deal of pride,—stands dreadfully erect, 'plumb and more,' with the Garter-leg advanced, when one goes to see him; and his remarks are not of an entertaining nature. Leave him standing there: ...
— History of Friedrich II. of Prussia, Vol. XI. (of XXI.) • Thomas Carlyle

... gentleman, all in his glory, was lording it over poor Dobb's, the long-suffering steward, at a fine rate, I noticed, making Mr Stormcock waxy with his remarks ...
— Crown and Anchor - Under the Pen'ant • John Conroy Hutcheson

... is commonly untrue. Some time ago when he was painting Spanish subjects, his habit was to bring out his whites in relief from transparent bituminous browns, which though not exactly right in color, were at any rate warm and agreeable; but of late his color has become cold, waxy, and opaque, and in his deep shades he sometimes permits himself the use of a violent black which is altogether unjustifiable. A picture of Roslin Chapel exhibited in 1844, showed this defect in the recess to which the stairs descend, in an extravagant degree; and another exhibited ...
— Modern Painters Volume I (of V) • John Ruskin

... Besides it was such a simple way, requiring no labor whatever, though a little scheming perhaps, no amount of brains or culture worth mentioning, no heart or love, and least of all a noble nature. A woman may sell herself, or if of a waxy disposition, having little force, may be sold at the altar to a man who will give wealth and luxury in return. This, society, in full dress, smiles upon, and civil law and ...
— What Can She Do? • Edward Payson Roe

... America, but has been introduced and cultivated both in the West and East Indies. It bears bunches of pink-colored flowers, which are followed by oblong bristled pods. The seeds are thinly coated with red, waxy pulp, which is separated by stirring them in water until it is detached, when it is strained off and evaporated to the consistence of putty, when it is made up into rolls; in this condition it is known as flag or roll arnotta, but when thoroughly ...
— Catalogue of Economic Plants in the Collection of the U. S. Department of Agriculture • William Saunders

... the site of the old Exhibition. They looked at the tulips. Stiff and curled, the little rods of waxy smoothness rose from the earth, nourished yet contained, suffused with scarlet and coral pink. Each had its shadow; each grew trimly in the diamond-shaped wedge as the gardener had ...
— Jacob's Room • Virginia Woolf

... the child and the old man lingered for hours in the orchard, watching the bird that every day seemed to grow bigger and brighter. What a picture his coat, now a bright cardinal red, made against the waxy green leaves! How big and brilliant he seemed as he raced and darted in play among the creamy blossoms! How the little girl stood with clasped hands worshipping him, as with swelling throat he rocked on the highest spray and sang his inspiring chorus over ...
— The Song of the Cardinal • Gene Stratton-Porter

... a man named Starkad; he was a son of Bork the Waxy- toothed-blade, the son of Thorkell Clubfoot, who took the land round about Threecorner as the first settler. His wife's name was Hallbera (1). The sons of Starkad and Hallbera were these: Thorgeir and Bork and Thorkell. Hildigunna the Leech ...
— Njal's Saga • Unknown Icelanders

... characteristically by the color of the lips and gums. These, instead of being red, are a pale yellowish pink, and the whole complexion has a sort of waxy pallor. In extreme cases this pallor even becomes greenish. As the disease is accompanied with little pain, and few if any marked symptoms, beyond sleepiness and weakness, it often exists for some time without ...
— Study of Child Life • Marion Foster Washburne

... tide is thrust fiercely and violently back, and hurled into a new channel, chasmed in the rough, rent granite. It is impossible to calculate the waste of grief and pathos which this incapacity causes. Fanny's doll aforesaid is left too near the fire, and waxy tears roll down her ruddy cheeks, to the utter ruin of her pretty face and her gay frock; and anon poor Fanny breaks her little heart in moans and sobs and sore lamentations. It is Rachel weeping for her children. I went on a tramp one May morning to buy a tissue-paper ...
— Gala-days • Gail Hamilton

... mind by shaking hands with him. He then conveyed him and his sister into the veriest old well of a shivering best parlour that ever was seen, where the maps upon the wall, and the celestial and terrestrial globes in the windows, were waxy with cold. Here he produced a decanter of curiously light wine, and a block of curiously heavy cake, and administered instalments of those dainties to the young people: at the same time sending out a meagre servant to offer a glass of "something" to the postboy who answered that he thanked ...
— A Christmas Carol • Charles Dickens

... oval, broad at one end and elongated at the other; the texture is rather waxy, with a fine gloss, and they are of ...
— The Nests and Eggs of Indian Birds, Volume 1 • Allan O. Hume

... filters down from the quiet woods outside. Martin is kneeling beside a stretcher where lies a mass of torn blue uniform crossed in several places by strips of white bandages clotted with dark blood. The massive face, grimed with mud, is very waxy and grey. The light hair hangs in clots about the forehead. The nose is sharp, but there is a faint smile about the ...
— One Man's Initiation—1917 • John Dos Passos

... the original surface, and within the outer row of post holes, were two skeletons extended, heads nearly west. It would seem that the flesh was removed before burial, as the bones were covered with a dull red substance, which showed a waxy texture when worked ...
— Scientific American Supplement, No. 664, September 22,1888 • Various

... quality is of a deep-red colour; and when the animal has approached maturity, and been well fed, the lean is intermixed with fat, giving it the mottled appearance which is so much esteemed. It is also full of juice, which resembles in colour claret wine. The fat of the best beef is of a firm and waxy consistency, of a colour resembling that of the finest grass butter; bright in appearance, neither greasy nor friable to the touch, but moderately unctuous, in a medium degree between the ...
— The Book of Household Management • Mrs. Isabella Beeton

... which form so much of the undergrowth in Japan, everything which grows in these forests rejoices the eye by its form or color; but things which hurt and sting and may kill, lurk amidst all the beauties. A creeping plant with very beautiful waxy leaves, said by Captain Murray to be vanilla, grows ...
— The Golden Chersonese and the Way Thither • Isabella L. Bird (Mrs. Bishop)

... waxy luster, due to its slight hardness. Malachite, although soft, has, perhaps because of its opacity, a keen and sometimes ...
— A Text-Book of Precious Stones for Jewelers and the Gem-Loving Public • Frank Bertram Wade

... Cook until waxy looking, then take the yolks of 2 eggs and 1 heaping tablespoon of flour and 1 1/2 cupfuls milk. Mix all together smooth. Add to the above ingredients. Cook until thick and add vanilla. Have a baked crust, use the whites beaten stiff ...
— The Suffrage Cook Book • L. O. Kleber



Words linked to "Waxy" :   spinnable, colorless, plastic, colourless, bendable, waxiness, wax, pliant, flexible, unimpressionable, flexile, easy, susceptible, waxlike



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