sealing-waxn.
In early use, beeswax or a composition containing this, in later use a composition consisting of shellac, rosin, and turpentine, prepared for the purpose of receiving the impression of seals. Also attributive.The modern ‘sealing-wax’ resembles wax in its fusibility and its plasticity when softened by heat, but its superior hardness when solidified renders it more capable of receiving a sharp and durable impression. It is usually coloured scarlet with vermilion, but black sealing wax is used for mourning, and green, blue, etc. for reasons of ornament.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > indication > marking > imprinting > sealing > [noun] > sealing wax
wax971
sealing-wax13..
hard wax1603
stick1662
seal-wax1741
kiss1829
13.. Test. Christi 143 in Minor Poems fr. Vernon MS. 647 Þe selyng-wax was deore abouȝt,..And tempred al wiþ vermiloun Of my rede blod þat ran doun.
1580–1 Act 23 Eliz. c. 8 §3 Wares wrought with Waxe, as..Staff-Torches, Red Waxe or Sealing Waxe.
1694 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 18 194 I covered the Cork with Sealing-wax.
1712 J. Browne tr. P. Pomet et al. Compl. Hist. Druggs I. 204 Black sealing Wax is..colour'd with Smoak Black.
1849 H. M. Noad Lect. Electr. (ed. 3) 28 Mr. Woodward strongly recommends the covering the glass pillars..with sealing-wax varnish.
1894 S. R. Bottone Electr. Instr. Making (ed. 6) 191 The top of the cork must also be well coated with sealing wax.
Compounds
C1. attributive.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > colour > named colours > red or redness > [adjective] > bright red or scarlet
scarletc1386
puniceousa1398
vermeilc1400
corala1522
Punic?1553
orient1578
vermilion1589
wax-red1593
cherry-red1594
Punical1606
coralline?1608
scarleted1641
coccineous1654
cinnabrianc1668
poppy-coloured1677
miniaceous1688
phoeniceous1688
cherry-coloured1695
coral-red1700
cardinal1755
cherried1762
ponceau1774
punicean1786
cinnabar1807
geraniumed1819
miniatous1826
cardinal scarlet1828
vermilion-coloured1835–6
geranium-coloured1836
pink1846
cardinal red1850
lobster-red1856
phoenicean1857
magenta1877
angered1878
scarlet-vermilion1882
tomato1889
camellia-red1890
miniate1891
nasturtium-red1896
sealing-wax1912
1912 Mrs. P. Campbell Let. Aug. in Bernard Shaw & Mrs. P. Campbell (1952) 35 The scullery maids..with their bloody nails and sealing-wax lips make my hair stand on end.
1930 A. P. Herbert Water Gipsies xxv. 380 Her lips were the hot sealing-wax lips which she knew he hated.
C2.
sealing-wax red n. designating a bright red colour, vermilion.
ΚΠ
1907 Yesterday's Shopping (1969) 156/2 These Colours Kept in Stock..Sealing wax red..Sky..Stone.
1930 Times Educ. Suppl. 18 Jan. (Suppl.) p. iv/2 Red offers a fertile field for flights of descriptive fancy... Post Office red, and sealing wax red may be hackneyed words, but their tone is not in doubt.
1939 Burlington Mag. Oct. 162/2 About 1550 the famous ‘sealing-wax red’ first appears on Turkish pottery.
1957 A. Lane Later Islamic Pottery iii. 60 It will probably never be possible to stop dealers and collectors calling the later Isnik wares ‘Rhodian’, and the nickname is at any rate a convenient label for the whole class in which the ‘sealing-wax red’ appears.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1911; most recently modified version published online June 2021).
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