![]() ![]() We still use the verb wax in this way today. Conversely, the moon wanes as its illuminated face becomes less visible and decreases in size, moving from full moon to new moon. Because the verb meant “to grow,” it was said a moon waxes or is waxing when its surface becomes more lighted, visible, and larger in size, moving through the phases from new moon to full moon. Once the verb was introduced into the lexicon, it began being used to describe the phases of the moon while some sources suggest wax was first used to describe the moon in the 1300s, the Oxford English Dictionary points to its first usage in this way as 970. But around the end of the Middle Ages, it appears to have been phased out of usage, or at least to have begun being phased out, in favor of the verb grow. Just as there’s documentation of wax being used to mean “to become bigger” dating back to medieval texts. Indeed, there’s evidence of the Old English form of the word, weaxan, in use in this way in the 9th century. That’s right! Wax is an ancient verb meaning “to grow” or “to increase,” such as in size. However, although you may be tempted to say wax poetically, that is not the correct usage of this expression. For instance, you could use the present participle waxing and say that someone is waxing poetic, or the singular simple present waxes and say that someone waxes poetic, or the past participle and say that someone waxed poetic. Thus, you can change its tense to suit your needs. Whenever Kelly gets that twinkle in her eye, I can tell she’s about to wax poetic about something or another!Īs you’ll read more about below, in this phrase, wax is a verb.I warned my date I was about to wax poetic and then told her that her hair was golden like the sun, her skin as smooth as the smoothest pebble, and her smile as beautiful and captivating as the most intricate painting.She’ll wax poetic about the buildings, and people, and food for hours, and you’ll just be stuck there listening to her go on and on. Don’t get Jenny started about her vacation to Europe.My dad always likes to wax poetic about the “good old days” before the internet and cell phones.Here are some example sentences using the expression wax poetic: The idiom is often used when someone is progressively going on and on about a topic, when their language is becoming increasingly more descriptive and long-winded. If you wax poetic, you may be speaking exaggeratedly about your subject. Typically, it means to talk about something in a verbose manner in other, ahem, words… to be wordy! That makes sense, as poetry often discusses a topic at length, using flowery, descriptive language like metaphors and similes to make its point. ![]() Put simply, to wax poetic is to speak about a topic in a poetic way. ![]()
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