![]() ![]() Idioms have figurative rather than literal meanings. Again, as it became popular, the verb wax was redefined in light of the saying to mean “to assume a characteristic or state” or “to become.” What Are Idioms?Īs alluded to earlier in the article, an idiom is an expression with an intended meaning that typically can’t fully be understood just by looking at the individual words that comprise it. ![]() Of all the expressions, wax poetic remains most widely in use now. “One could almost wax poetic, but we will keep such ambitious ideas for a The first written documentation of wax poetic appears to be in How I Found Livingstone by Sir Henry Morton Stanley, published around 1872. It seems wax eloquent was the first to gain popularity, around 1824. ![]() ![]() You may also often hear the phrase wax philosophical. These common phrases included wax lyrical, wax eloquent, and, you guessed it, wax poetic. While it technically went out of style in verb form some time around the 15th century in favor of grow, wax began to be used in phrases to describe growing more expansive and more verbose in one’s language and expression in the 1800s. Of course, we also still use the verb wax in some ways to mean “to increase” in the idiom wax poetic, though it’s mostly thought of as meaning “to become” in this saying. 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.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |