Emily Dickinson Lexicon

WA'VY, a. [from wave.]

1. Rising or swelling in waves; full of waves; as, the wavy sea. – Chapman.
2. Playing to and fro; undulating. Let her glad valleys smile with wavy corn. – Prior.
3. Undulating on the border or on the surface; a botanical use.

WAWES, or WAES, n. [for Waves. Not in use.]

– Spenser.

WAX, n. [Sax. wæx, wex; G. wachs; D. wasch; Sw. vax; Russ. vaksa; L. viscus, viscum.]

1. A thick, viscid, tenacious substance, excreted by bees, from their bodies, and employed in the construction of their cells; usually called bees' wax. Its native color is yellow, but it is bleached for candles, &c.
2. A thick tenacious substance excreted in the ear.
3. A substance secreted by certain plants, forming a silvery powder on the leaves and fruit, as in the wax-palm and wax-myrtle. – Cyc.
4. A substance found on the binder legs of bees, which is supposed to be their food.
5. A substance used in sealing letters; called sealing-wax, or Spanish wax. This is a composition of lac and resin, colored with some pigment. – Cyc.
6. A thick substance used by shoemakers for rubbing their thread.

WAX, v.i. [pret. waxed; pp. waxed or waxen. Sax. weaxan; G. wachsen; Sw. vaxa; allied probably to L. augeo, auxi, Gr. αεξω, and αυξω.]

1. To increase in size; to grow; to become larger; as, the waxing and the waning moon. – Hakewill.
2. To pass from one state to another; to become; as, to wax strong; to wax warm or cold; to wax feeble; to wax hot; to wax old; to wax worse and worse. – Scripture.

WAX, v.t.

To smear or rub with wax; as, to wax a thread or a table.

WAX'-BILL, n.

A bird, a species of Loxia.

WAX'-CAN-DLE, a. [wax and candle.]

A candle made of wax.

WAX'-CHAND-LER, n. [wax and chandler.]

A maker of wax candles.

WAX'ED, pp.

Smeared or rubbed with wax.

WAX'EN, a.

Made of wax; as, waxen cells. – Milton.

WAX'ING, n.

In chimistry, the preparation of any matter to render it fit for melting; also, the process of stopping out colors in calico-printing. – Cyc.

WAX'ING, ppr.

Growing; increasing; becoming.; smearing with wax.

WAX-MYR'TLE, n.

The Myrica cerifera, a shrub of North America, the berries of which are covered with a greenish wax, called myrtle-wax, or bayberry tallow. – Bigelow.

WAX'-PALM, n.

A. species of palm, the Cerorylon andicola, a native of the Andes, the stem of which is covered with a secretion, consisting of two thirds resin and one third wax. – Cyc.

WAX'-WORK, n.

Figures formed of wax, in imitation real beings.

WAX'Y, a.

Soft like wax; resembling wax; viscid; adhesive.

WAY, n. [Sax. wæg, weg; G. and D. weg; Dan. vej; Sw. våg; L. and It. via; Fr. voie; coinciding in origin with wag, weigh, wagon, vogue, &c.]

1. Literally, a passing; hence, a passage; the place of passing; hence, a road of any kind; a highway; a private road; a lane; a street; any place for the passing of men, cattle or other animals; a word of very comprehensive signification.
2. Length of space; as, a great way; a little way.
3. Course; direction of motion or travel. What way did he take? Which way shall I go? Keep in the way of truth and knowledge. Mark what way I make. – Shak.
4. Passage; room for passing. Make way for the jury.
5. Course or regular course. And let eternal justice take the way. – Dryden.
6. Tendency to any meaning or act. There is nothing in the words that sounds that way. – Atterbury.
7. Sphere of observation. The general officers and the public ministers that fell in my way. – Temple.
8. Manner of doing any thing; method; means of doing; Seek the best way of learning, and pursue it. By noble ways we conquests will prepare. – Dryden.
9. Method; scheme of management. What impious ways my wishes took. – Prior.
10. Manner of thinking or behavior; particular turn of opinion; determination or humor. Let him have his way, when that will not injure him, or any other person. But multitudes of children are ruined by being permitted to have their way.
11. Manner; mode. In no way does this matter belong to me. We admire a person's way of expressing his ideas.
12. Method; manner of practice. Find, if you can, the easiest way to live. Having lost the way of nobleness. – Sidney.
13. Method or plan of life and conduct. Instruct your children in the right way. Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace. – Prov. iii. All flesh had corrupted his way. – Gen. vi.
14. Course; process of things, good or bad. Things are a prosperous way.
15. Right method to act or know. We are quite out of the way. – Locke.
16. General scheme of acting. Men who go out of the way to hint free things, must be guilty of absurdity or rudeness. – Clarissa.
17. Sect; denomination of a particular faith, creed or worship. – Acts xix. 23.
18. Ways, plur. the timbers on which a ship is launched. To make way, to give room for passing; or to make a vacancy. To give way, to recede; to make room; or to yield; to concede the place or opinion to another. To make one's way, to advance in life by efforts; to advance successfully. By the way, en passant, as we proceed; a phrase introducing something in discourse, not immediately connected with the subject. To go one's way, or to come one's way, to go or come along. – Shak. To go the way of all the earth, to die. In the way, a phrase noting obstruction. What is there in the way of your success? In Scripture, the ways of God are his providential government or his works. – Rom. xi. Job xl. Way and ways are used in certain phrases, in the sense of wise. He is no ways a match for his antagonist. 'Tis no way the interest even of the priesthood. – Pope. To be under way, in seamen's language, to be in motion, as when a ship begins to move. So a ship is said to have head-way, when she moves forward in her course, and sternway, when she is driven astern. She is said also to gather way, or to lose way. Lee-way is a movement of a ship aside of her course, or to the leeward. Milky way, in astronomy, the galaxy; a broad luminous belt or space in the heavens, supposed to be occasioned by the blended light of an immense number of stars. By means of a telescope of uncommon magnifying powers, Dr. Herschel has been able to ascertain this fact, by distinguishing the stars. Covert way, in fortification, a passage covered from the enemy's fire. Ways and means, in legislation, means for raising money; resources for revenue. Way-going crop, among farmers, is the crop which is taken from the ground the year the tenant leaves the farm. [England.] – Cyc.

WAY'-BILL, n.

A list of passengers in a public vehicle. – United States.

WAY'-BREAD, n.

A name given to the herb plantain, [Plantago.] [Local.] – Cyc.

WAY-FAR-ER, n. [way and fare, Sax. faran, to go.]

A traveler; a passenger. – Carew.

WAY-FAR-ING, a. [supra.]

Traveling; passing; being on a journey. Judges xix.

WAY-FAR-ING-TREE, n.

A shrub, a species of Viburnum. – Cyc.

WAY-LAID', pp.

Watched in the way. [See Waylay.]

WAY-LAY', v.t. [way and lay.]

To watch insidiously in the way, with a view to seize, rob or slay; to beset in ambush; as, to waylay a traveler. – Milton. Dryden. [In this word there is little difference of accent.]

WAY-LAY'ER, n.

One who waits for another in ambush, with a view to seize, rob, or slay him.