Dictionary

waxwork en · NOUN

Etymology

From wax + work.

Meanings

1. (countable) A figure made of wax, especially an effigy of a famous person.
   • The amateur tenor, whose vocal villainies / All desire to shirk, / Shall during off-hours, / Exhibit his powers / To Madame Tussaud's waxwork. 1885, Gilbert & Sullivan, The Mikado:
2. (uncountable) The art of producing such figures.
   • Waxwork is a fine art, but it differs from all other fine arts in that its main purpose is one that is expressly rejected by all those other arts. 1926, R. Austin Freeman, The D'Arblay Mystery:

Forms

Deriveds

waxwork-man · waxworky · waxworker · waxworks · Roxbury waxwork

Relateds

wax museum

Translations (11)

pl figura woskowa (a wax figure, an effigy of a famous person) · th หุ่นขี้ผึ้ง (a wax figure, an effigy of a famous person) · fi vahapatsas (a wax figure, an effigy of a famous person) · bg восъчна фигура (a wax figure, an effigy of a famous person) · ru воскова́я фигу́ра (a wax figure, an effigy of a famous person) · de Wachsfigur (a wax figure, an effigy of a famous person) · fr personnage en cire (a wax figure, an effigy of a famous person) · ru муля́ж (a wax figure, an effigy of a famous person) · fi vahakuva (a wax figure, an effigy of a famous person) · cmn 蠟像 /蜡像 (a wax figure, an effigy of a famous person) · ja 蝋人形 (a wax figure, an effigy of a famous person)