WAXING

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does waxing mean? 

• WAXING (noun)
  The noun WAXING has 2 senses:

1. the application of wax to a surface

2. a gradual increase in magnitude or extent

  Familiarity information: WAXING used as a noun is rare.

• WAXING (adjective)
  The adjective WAXING has 1 sense:

1. (of the moon) pertaining to the period during which the visible surface of the moon increases

  Familiarity information: WAXING used as an adjective is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• WAXING (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The application of wax to a surface

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("waxing" is a kind of...):

application; coating; covering (the work of applying something)

Derivation:

wax (cover with wax)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A gradual increase in magnitude or extent

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Context example:

the waxing of the moon

Hypernyms ("waxing" is a kind of...):

increase (a change resulting in an increase)

Antonym:

waning (a gradual decrease in magnitude or extent)

Derivation:

wax (go up or advance)

wax (increase in phase)

• WAXING (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

(of the moon) pertaining to the period during which the visible surface of the moon increases

Context example:

the waxing moon passes from new to full

Antonym:

waning ((of the Moon) pertaining to the period during which the visible surface of the moon decreases)

 Context examples 

Something of daylight still lingered, and the moon was waxing bright: I could see him plainly.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

She drew his head down to hers as she spoke, and there, with their cheeks together, were the two faces, the one stamped with the waning beauty of womanhood, the other with the waxing strength of man, and yet so alike in the dark eyes, the blue-black hair and the broad white brow, that I marvelled that I had never read her secret on the first days that I had seen them together.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The new studies, led by researchers at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), provide insights into the mysterious timing of sunspot cycles, which are marked by the waxing and waning of sunspot activity on the solar surface.

('Terminators' on the sun trigger plasma tsunamis, start of new solar cycles, National Science Foundation)

I looked at Adele, whose head leant against my shoulder; her eyes were waxing heavy, so I took her up in my arms and carried her off to bed.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)