wax down

English

Verb

wax down (third-person singular simple present waxes down, present participle waxing down, simple past and past participle waxed down)

1. To rub or polish with wax to create a slick, shiny and/or waterproof coating; to wax.
   • 1963, Brian Wilson (lyrics and music), “Surfin' U.S.A.”, in Surfin' U.S.A., performed by Beach Boys:

     We're waxin' down our surfboards / We can't wait for June

   • 2008, George Wolf Crawford, Raymond Shelton Crawford, Fred Crawford, Three Crawford Brothers: The WW II Memoirs of Three Pilots, page 276:

     So the next afternoon we weren't doing anything and it was fairly warm, we got rags and waxed down his plane.

   • 1982, Caroline Leavitt, Lifelines, page 156:

     She waxed down the floor and found a small table and matching chair at Goodwill.

   • 2010, Robyn Catchlove, Somewhere Down a Crazy River, page 18:

     Then, after shelling out significant cash on sufficient 44-gallon drums of polyester and epoxy resin and massive rolls of specific density fibreglass material, we proceeded to wax down and lay up the hull.

   • 2015, Karl Knopf, Stability Workouts on the Balance Board:

     Looking graceful and not falling can be difficult when you're asked to wax down your skis and slide over an icy surface, or while dodging mogul mice and then stopping gracefully at the end of the run.

   • 2022, G.J. LaGarr, Jupiter and the Cats:

     If there was even one string out of place on one of her dish towels, he would have her cut it up in rags to wax down his precious candy-apple red Cadillac Coupe de Ville.

2. To stiffen by coating or permeating with wax.
   • 1909, “A Modern Receiving Set for Wireless Telegraphy”, in The Model Engineer and Amateur Electrician, volume 21, page 325:

     The paper should be as thin and tough as possible – for example, typewriter paper, The equal sheets thus prepared must now be waxed down by aid of a hot iron on the carefully prepared wooden boards, paper side out.

   • 1925, Art and Archaeology - Volume 20, page 86:

     In picking up the loops, the weaver probably used some kind of bodkin, or possibly she knew how to wax down the ends of her threads to a fine point,

   • 2016, Douglas Boze, The Ultimate Guide to Black Bear Hunting:

     Do not forget to wax down your bowstring periodically, as well.

3. To coat (hair) with an oily or waxy substance in order to hold it in place.
   • 1900, Recreation, volume 13, page 22:

     She divided the rest of the hair into 4 equal parts, twisted each part and tied it into 3 knots. Those she waxed down to my skull with 4 pins to the knot .

   • 1911, John Edward Patterson, My Vagabondage, page 139:

     That dark-skinned, hollow-chested, small-eyed, slight young man under medium height, with his black hair parted in the middle and always kept flat as if waxed down, was no match for the wiry, healthy lad with uncommon staying-powers and the unschooled passion of a fury.

   • 1997, Norman Partridge, Saguaro Riptide, page 190:

     And sweaty-man, there wasn't even a rumor of the Old Spice he'd used to wax down his pits that morning.

   • 2015, Jody Wallace, Traitor:

     Sarah wished she had something to wax down her hair and flattened it with her hands to no effect.

   • 2021, Courtney Act [pseudonym; Shane Jenek], Caught in the Act: A memoir by Courtney Act:

     I'd never attempted my own makeup and I didn't know how to wax down a brow, but it quickly became clear that the girl doing my face knew even less.

4. (beekeeping) To generate a layer of wax that completely covers.
   • 1884, “The Museum”, in Report of the Marlborough College Natural History Society, number 32, page lviii:

     If the hive is suspected of being queenless, a queen-cell from another hive, with the pupa ready to hatch out, is sometimes placed in it, when, if the new queen is required, the bees will take to her, but should they have a queen and do not require a new one, they will wax down the queen-cell that was inserted so that the young queen cannot hatch out; a specimen of a cell so waxed down is exhibited.

   • 1892 June 23, Thomas Johnson, “Temperature in Wintering Bees”, in American Bee Journal, volume 29, number 26, page 833:

     By the description of his cover for the bees to wax down, it was not properly braced, as the dovetailed end is made by different manufacturers.

   • 1904 December 22, “Queries and Replies”, in British Bee Journal, volume 32, number 2, page 509:

     How can I insert candy without chilling bees, as their outer covering at present is a bag of cork-dust, which seems (as far as I can tell without lifting) waxed down to the frames?

5. To seal over with wax, in order to make airtight and watertight.
   • 1890, Richard Arundell Augur Sherrin, Thomson W. Leys, John Howard Wallace, Early History of New Zealand: From Earliest Times to 1840, page 49:

     We complied instantly with these instructions, and digging, soon found a bottle corked and waxed down, wherein was a letter from Captain Cook informing us of their arrival at this place on the 3rd instant, and departure on the 24th, and that they intended spending a few days in the entrance of the straits to look for us.

   • 1892, Arnold James Cooley, Cooley's Cyclopædia of Practical Receipts and Collateral Information in the Arts, Manufactures, Professions, and Trades, page 1375:

     Solid caustic potash must always be kept in well-stoppered bottles, which when not in use may be waxed down.

   • 1900 December – 1901 October, Rudyard Kipling, Kim (Macmillan’s Colonial Library; no. 414), London: Macmillan and Co., published 1901, →OCLC, page 366:

     This time Kim thought in the vernacular as he waxed down the oilskin edges of the packets.

   • 1905 October 25, H.L. Cooke, “Experiments on Penetrating Radiation”, in Proceedings of the Cambridge Philosophical Society, volume 13, number 3, page 161:

     Two brass caps slide on over the top and bottom attachments, and being carefully waxed down, render the apparatus air-tight during runs.

   • 2014, Benerson Little, The Sea Rover's Practice:

     Beeswax served to wax down the musket lock, particularly by sealing the vent: “Our arms were fast lashed to the inside of the boat, and our locks were as well cased and waxed down as was possible; so were also our cartouche-boxes and powder-horns.

6. To paste into place using wax.
   • 1862, William Ezra Worthen, Practical Drawing Book, page 36:

     For delicate small-scale line-drawing, the thick blue paper, such as is used for ledgers, &c., imperial size, answers exceedingly well; but it does not bear damp-stretching without injury, and should be merely pinned or waxed down to the board.

   • 1969, Leonard Woolley, edited by Shirley Glubok, Discovering the Royal Tombs at Ur, page 60:

     Then muslin was waxed down onto the surface, to bind it, and the panel was lifted in one piece.

   • 1974, H.J. Ruiz, F.W. Voltmer, “On the Calibration and Performance of a Spreadding Resistance Probe”, in NBS Special Publication, volume 400, number 10, page 147:

     The wafers chosen were individually waxed down on microscope glass slides.

   • 1989, Special Course on Advances in Cryogenic Wind Tunnel Technology, page 16-8:

     The specimen was now turned over and the bottom side waxed down to the base plate.

7. To taper off; to gradually quiet or diminish.
   • 1859, Rudolf Stier, William Burt Pope, “The Origin and End of Evil”, in The Words of the Lord Jesus, volume 9, page 253:

     See how sin, even from Adam to Cain, had grown up to murder and defiance of God! See how it then waxed down to the death of all flesh in the judgment of the flood!

   • 1995, United States. Congress. House. Committee on Appropriations. Subcommittee on Department of the Interior and Related Agencies, Department of the Interior and Related Agencies - Part 11, page 44:

     You may remember — and this is the last example I will give as I begin to wax down — there was this incredible problem back in the 1980s of the 747s across the Pacific at 40,000 feet suddenly losing all four engines in mid-flight.

   • 2016, Hamza Hassan Sheikh, Thirst All Around, page 42:

     His heart waxed down and angriness shed away.

   • 2019, Carlene Poff Baker, Silver Snippets:

     At the end of the year's 366 days, if I have filled my sheet of paper with evidence of having lived with purpose, and if my candle has been lit so many times it is smutty and waxed down, I will have been a good steward of New Year's assignment.