different between efface vs waxen

English

Etymology

From Middle French effacer (“erase”), from Old French esfacier (“remove the face”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??fe?s/, /??fe?s/
• Rhymes: -e?s

Verb

efface (third-person singular simple present effaces, present participle effacing, simple past and past participle effaced)

1. (transitive) To erase (as anything impressed or inscribed upon a surface); to render illegible or indiscernible.
   • 1825, Walter Scott, The Talisman, A.L. Burt Company (1832?), 15:

     An outline of the same device might be traced on his shield, though many a blow had almost effaced the painting.

2. (transitive) To cause to disappear as if by rubbing out or striking out.

3. (reflexive) To make oneself inobtrusive as if due to modesty or diffidence.

4. (medicine) Of the cervix during pregnancy, to thin and stretch in preparation for labor.

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• deface

Anagrams

• Caffee

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /e.fas/

Noun

efface f (plural effaces)

1. (Quebec) eraser

Verb

efface

1. first-person singular present indicative of effacer
2. third-person singular present indicative of effacer
3. first-person singular present subjunctive of effacer
4. third-person singular present subjunctive of effacer
5. second-person singular imperative of effacer

Further reading

• “efface” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English waxen, from Old English weaxen, ?eweaxen, from Proto-Germanic *wahsanaz, past participle of Proto-Germanic *wahsijan? (“to wax, grow, increase”), equivalent to wax +? -en (past participle ending).

Adjective

waxen (comparative more waxen, superlative most waxen)

1. (Britain, dialectal) Grown.

Etymology 2

Verb

waxen

1. (archaic) alternative past participle of wax.
2. (obsolete) plural simple present of wax
   • 1540, Great Bible, Second Edition, Preface

     And they that occupye them been in muche savegarde, and have greate consolacyon, and been the readyer unto all goodnesse, the slower to all evyll: and if they have done anything amysse, anone even by the sight of the bookes, theyr conscvences been admonished, and they waxen sory and ashamed of the facte.

   • 1579, Edmund Spenser, The Shepheardes Calender

     When the rayne is faln, the cloudes wexen cleare.

   • 1590-97, William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream, II, i

     And then the whole quire hold their hips and laugh,

     And waxen in their mirth and neeze and swear

     A merrier hour was never wasted there.

Etymology 3

From Middle English waxen (“made of wax”), from Old English weaxen (“waxen, made of wax”), equivalent to wax +? -en (“made of”).

Adjective

waxen (comparative more waxen, superlative most waxen)

2. Made of wax; covered with wax.
   • c. 1594, William Shakespeare, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Act II, Scene 4,^[1]

     She is fair; and so is Julia that I love—

     That I did love, for now my love is thaw’d;

     Which, like a waxen image, ’gainst a fire,

     Bears no impression of the thing it was.

3. Of or pertaining to wax.
4. Having the pale smooth characteristics of wax, waxlike, waxy.
   • 1950, Mervyn Peake, Gormenghast, Penguin, 1969, Chapter 28, p. 185,^[2]

     It was hard to imagine that the broken thing had once been new; that those withered, waxen cheeks had been fresh and tinted. That her eyes had long ago glinted with laughter.

5. (rare) Easily effaced, as if written in wax.

Derived terms

• waxen chatterer
• waxen image

Translations

Middle English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?waks?n/, /?w?ks?n/

Etymology 1

From Old English weaxan, from Proto-Germanic *wahsijan?.

Alternative forms

• waxenn, waxin, waxyn, waxe, wax, wexen, wexsyn, wexe, wexi, vexen

Verb

waxen

2. To grow (become larger):
   1. To grow up; to become fully grown.
   2. To wax (of the moon); to rise (of the tide).
3. To increase in amount; to multiply
4. To increase in magnitude; to magnify
5. To appear; to arise.
6. To change; to turn (to or into something)
7. To become, to assume (a quality or state)

Usage notes

Already in Old English, this verb's conjugation varied; in Northumbria, the original class 6 conjugation was retained, while elsewhere, the verb went over to class 7; this variation persists in Middle English. Further variation results from levelling of forms during the Middle English period.

Conjugation

Derived terms

• faxwax
• wax
• waxyng

Descendants

• English: wax
• Scots: wax

References

• “waxen, v.(1).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Etymology 2

From wax (“wax”) +? -en (“infinitival ending”).

Alternative forms

• waxyn, waxe, wax, wexen

Verb

waxen

2. to wax (apply wax to; cover in wax)
3. (rare) to stop (a hole)

Conjugation

Descendants

• English: wax

References

• “waxen, v.(2).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Etymology 3

From wax (“wax”) +? -en (“made of”).

Adjective

waxen

2. (hapax) waxen (made of wax)

Descendants

• English: waxen

References

• “waxen, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.