Beeswax

Definitions: Beeswax

Beeswax

Noun

1. A yellow to brown wax secreted by honeybees to build honeycombs.

Verb

1. Cover with beeswax; "Chris beeswaxed the kitchen table".

Date "beeswax" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1719. (references)

Context	Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus).
Semiliquidity	Jelly, mucilage, gelatin, gluten; carlock, fish glue; ichthyocol, ichthycolla; isinglass; mucus, phlegm, goo; pituite, lava; glair, starch, gluten, albumen, milk, cream, protein; treacle; gum, size, glue (tenacity); wax, beeswax.
Smoothness	Roller, steam roller, lawn roller, rolling pin, rolling mill; sand paper, emery paper, emery cloth, sander; flat iron, sad iron; burnisher, turpentine and beeswax; polish, shoe polish.
Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus.

Beeswax is a tough wax formed from a mixture of several compounds secreted by honeybees in the form of thin scales from glands on the ventral surface of the abdomen and used in building the combs in which the young are raised and honey and pollen are stored. Its color varies from yellowish-white to brownish depending on purity. It has a high melting point, near 65°C.

Beeswax is used commercially to make fine candles, in polishing materials, as a component of modelling waxes, and in a variety of other products. Beeswax candles are preferred in most Eastern Orthodox churches because they burn cleanly, with little or no wax dripping down the sides and little visible smoke.

See esters.

Crosswords: Beeswax

English words defined with "beeswax": Cerin, Cerotic, cerotic acid, Ceryl ♦ encaustic ♦ Grafting wax ♦ hexacosanoic acid, honey guide ♦ Melene, Melissic, Modeling wax, Myricin ♦ Wax tree, White wax. (references)

Specialty definitions using "beeswax": beeswax bleacher ♦ CONE TREATER ♦ paintings conservator, PAINTINGS RESTORER, PAPER-CONE-DRYING-MACHINE OPERATOR. (references)

Domain

Usage

Screenplays

They sent a man who put beeswax on them, but that made them worse. (Are You Being Served?; writing credit: John T. Chapman; David Croft)

Why don't you mind your own beeswax. (All in the Family; writing credit: Johnny Speight; Norman Lear)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Domain	Title
References	The World Market for Beeswax, Insect Waxes, and Spermaceti: A 2004 Global Trade Perspective (reference) (more reference examples)

Books	Beeswax & Wicks (reference) Beeswax Crafting (reference) Beeswax Crafts: Candlemaking, Modelling, Beauty Creams, Soaps and Polishes, Encaustic Art, Wax Crayons (reference) Beeswax Wicks (reference) Sloe gin and beeswax : seasonal recipes & hints from traditional household storerooms (reference) (more book examples)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Subject	Topic	Quote
Trade	Switzerland	Special health certificates, stamped by the competent authorities of the country of origin, are required for the import of horses, bovine animals, farm animals, certain domestic animals, bees and eggs for hatching, as well as for meat, game, seafood, beeswax and comb honey. (references)
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits.

"Beeswax" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 100.00% of the time. "Beeswax" is used about 62 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted)

Parts of Speech	Percent	Usage per 100 Million Words	Rank in English
Noun (singular)	100%	62	42,755

Hyphenated Usage
	Beginning with "beeswax": beeswax-scented.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Language		Translations for "beeswax"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses.
Albanian		dyllos (wax), dyllë blete (wax). (various references)

Arabic		‏شمع العسل. (various references)

Bulgarian		намазвам с восък (wax), пчелен восък. (various references)

Chinese		蜂蜡. (various references)

Czech		vèelí vosk. (various references)

Danish		bivoks. (various references)

Dutch		bijenwas. (various references)

Esperanto		abelvakso. (various references)

Farsi		موم (Wax). (various references)

Finnish		mehiläisvaha (bees wax, E901, white and yellow). (various references)

French		cire d'abeilles, cire d'abeille (bees wax). (various references)

German		Bienenwachs. (various references)

Greek		κηρός μελισσών, κηρήθρα (comb, honey comb, honeycomb), κερί μέλισσας, κερί μελίσσασ. (various references)

Hebrew		�"ו� �' (wax). (various references)

Hungarian		méhviasz. (various references)

Icelandic		bývax. (various references)

Indonesian		lilin (candle, glim, parrafin, wax). (various references)

Italian		cera d'api. (various references)

Japanese Kanji		蜜蝋 . (various references)

Japanese Katakana		みつろう. (various references)

Manx		kere hellanagh, geirr vill. (various references)

Pig Latin		eeswaxbay

Portuguese		cera de abelha. (various references)

Romanian		boştinã (Marc), cearã de albine, cearã (wax). (various references)

Russian		воск (wax), натирать воском. (various references)

Serbo-Croatian		vosak (wax). (various references)

Shona		namo. (various references)

Spanish		cera de abejas. (various references)

Swazi		um-tfwebéba. (various references)

Swedish		bivax (wax). (various references)

Thai		ทา�"้วยขี้ผึ้ง, ขี้ผึ้ง (mote, ointment), � าระ (burden, labor, labour, load). (various references)

Turkish		balmumu (wax). (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references.

Language	Period	Translations
Latin	500 BCE-Modern	cera. (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Derivations
	Words beginning with "beeswax": beeswaxes. (additional references)
Misspellings
	"Beeswax" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: baseworx, beeswacks, beewax, Biswaf. (additional references)
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references).

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams
	Words within the letters "a-b-e-e-s-w-x"
	-2 letters: waxes.
	-3 letters: awee, awes, axes, base, bees, ease, ewes, exes, sabe, swab, wabs, waes, webs, wees.
	-4 letters: abs, awe, axe, bas, bee, ewe, sab, sae, saw, sax, sea, see, sew, sex, wab, wae, was, wax, web, wee.
	-5 letters: ab, ae, as, aw, ax, ba, be, es, ex, we.
	Words containing the letters "a-b-e-e-s-w-x"
	+2 letters: beeswaxes.
	+3 letters: sweatboxes, waxberries.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro.