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Dull vs Wax - What's the difference?

dull | wax |

In transitive terms the difference between dull and wax

is that dull is to soften, moderate or blunt; to make dull, stupid, or sluggish; to stupefy while wax is to remove hair at the roots from (a part of the body) by coating the skin with a film of wax that is then pulled away sharply.

As a noun wax is

beeswax.

dull

English

Alternative forms

* dul, dulle

Adjective

(er)
  • Lacking the ability to cut easily; not sharp.
  • :
  • Boring; not exciting or interesting.
  • :
  • :
  • Not shiny; having a matte finish or no particular luster or brightness.
  • :
  • :a dull''' fire or lamp;  a '''dull''' red or yellow;  mirror
  • *(Henry Wadsworth Longfellow) (1807-1882)
  • *:As turning the logs will make a dull fire burn, so changes of study a dull brain.
  • *
  • *:A great bargain also had been the excellent Axminster carpet which covered the floor; as, again, the arm-chair in which Bunting now sat forward, staring into the dull , small fire. In fact, that arm-chair had been an extravagance of Mrs. Bunting. She had wanted her husband to be comfortable after the day's work was done, and she had paid thirty-seven shillings for the chair.
  • Not bright or intelligent; stupid; slow of understanding.
  • *(William Shakespeare) (c.1564–1616)
  • *:She is not bred so dull but she can learn.
  • *(William Makepeace Thackeray) (1811-1863)
  • *:dull at classical learning
  • *{{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)
    • , chapter=15 citation , passage=She paused and took a defiant breath. ‘If you don't believe me, I can't help it. But I'm not a liar.’ ¶ ‘No,’ said Luke, grinning at her. ‘You're not dull enough! […] What about the kid's clothes? I don't suppose they were anything to write home about, but didn't you keep anything? A bootee or a bit of embroidery or anything at all?’}}
  • Sluggish, listless.
  • *(Bible), (w) xiii. 15
  • *:This people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing.
  • *(Edmund Spenser) (c.1552–1599)
  • *:O, help my weak wit and sharpen my dull tongue.
  • *, chapter=7
    • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=[…] St.?Bede's at this period of its history was perhaps the poorest and most miserable parish in the East End of London. Close-packed, crushed by the buttressed height of the railway viaduct, rendered airless by huge walls of factories, it at once banished lively interest from a stranger's mind and left only a dull oppression of the spirit.}}
  • Cloudy, overcast.
  • :
  • Insensible; unfeeling.
  • *(Beaumont and Fletcher) (1603-1625)
  • *:Think me not / So dull a devil to forget the loss / Of such a matchless wife.
  • Heavy; lifeless; inert.
  • *(William Shakespeare) (c.1564–1616)
  • *:the dull earth
  • *(Henry Wadsworth Longfellow) (1807-1882)
  • *:As turning the logs will make a dull fire burn, so changes of study a dull brain.
  • (of pain etc) Not intense; felt indistinctly or only slightly.
    • Pressing on the bruise produces a dull pain.

    Synonyms

    * See also * See also * (not shiny) lackluster, matte

    Antonyms

    * bright * intelligent * sharp

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To render dull; to remove or blunt an edge or something that was sharp.
    • Years of misuse have dulled the tools.
  • * Francis Bacon
    • This dulled their swords.
  • To soften, moderate or blunt; to make dull, stupid, or sluggish; to stupefy.
    • He drinks to dull the pain.
  • * Shakespeare
    • Those [drugs] she has / Will stupefy and dull the sense a while.
  • * Trench
    • Use and custom have so dulled our eyes.
  • To lose a sharp edge; to become dull.
    • A razor will dull with use.
  • To render dim or obscure; to sully; to tarnish.
  • * Francis Bacon
    • dulls the mirror

    External links

    * *

    wax

    English

    , a kind of wax

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) .

    Noun

  • Beeswax.
  • Earwax.
  • Any oily, water-resistant substance; normally long-chain hydrocarbons, alcohols or esters.
  • Any preparation containing wax, used as a polish.
  • A phonograph record.
  • (US, dialect) A thick syrup made by boiling down the sap of the sugar maple and then cooling it.
  • (US, slang) A type of drugs with as main ingredients weed oil and butane; hash oil
    • Synonyms
    * (beeswax) beeswax * (earwax) cerumen (medical term), earwax * (polish) polish * (phonograph record) disc/disk, record
    Derived terms
    * ader wax * all wax and no wick * animal wax * anwax * baseplate wax * bayberry wax * beeswax * berry wax * bikini wax * bleached wax * blockout wax * bone wax * Born method of wax plate reconstruction * boxing wax * Brazil wax * Brazilian wax * butter of wax * California wax myrtle * candela wax * candelilla wax * candle wax * Carbowax * carding wax * carnauba wax * carving wax * car wax * casting wax * castor wax * ceresin wax * cetyl esters wax * chafe-wax, chafewax, chaff-wax, chaffwax * Chinese wax * close as wax * cobbler's wax, cobblers' wax * crystalline wax * cuticle wax * dental wax * dental inlay casting wax * dewax * earth wax, earthwax * ear wax, ear-wax, earwax * emulsifying wax * epilating wax * esparto wax * fig wax * Finnish yellow wax * fit like wax * floor wax * fossil wax * French wax * full up to dolly's wax * Geraldton wax * ghedda wax * glide wax * glitterwax * gondang wax * grafting wax * grave wax, grave-wax * greater wax moth * green wax, greenwax * grip wax * hair wax * hard wax * hot wax * hot-wax flooding * hot Hungarian wax pepper * Hungarian wax pepper * inlay casting wax * inlay casting wax, inlay pattern wax, inlay wax * insect wax * Japanese wax * Japan wax * keratin wax * kick wax * klister wax * lac wax * lad of wax, lad o' wax * lesser wax moth * lost wax * man of wax * medewax, medwax * microcrystalline wax * mind your beeswax, mind your own beeswax * mineral wax * modeling wax, modelling wax * montan wax * mortuary wax * moustache wax * myrtle wax * neat as wax * none of your beeswax * nose of wax * ouricury wax * Pacific wax myrtle * palm wax * paraffin wax, paraffin-wax * Parowax * peat wax * penetrating stain wax * petroleum wax * pisang wax * plant wax * polen wax * put on wax * release wax * rice bran wax * rough wax * scale wax * sealing-wax, sealing wax * seal-wax, sealwax * set-up wax * shellac wax * shoemakers' wax * ski wax * slack wax * soybean wax, soy wax * spermaceti wax * stick to someone like wax * surfboard wax * surf wax * * thermal wax printer * tight as wax * try-in wax * tubercle bacillus wax * unwax * utility wax * vegetable wax * virgin wax * walling wax * wax acid * wax alcohol * wax apple * wax bath * wax bean, waxbean * wax begonia * wax-berry, waxberry * wax-bill, waxbill * wax-billed * waxbird * wax bite * wax blockage * wax boot * wax-bred * wax-bush * wax-butter * wax candle * wax cap * wax-chandler * wax-chandlery, wax-chandry * wax cloth, wax-cloth, waxcloth * wax-cluster * wax-color, wax-colour * wax-comb * wax crayon * wax-creeper * wax-cup * wax cylinder * wax dip * wax doll * wax emulsion * waxen * wax end, wax-end * wax engraving * wax expansion * waxey * wax-eye * wax-farthing * wax figure * wax flower, wax-flower, waxflower * wax form * wax-gland * wax gourd * wax-hair * waxhead * wax-house * waxie * wax injection * wax injector * wax insect, wax-insect * wax jack * wax jambu * wax lancing * wax lathe * waxleaf privet * wax-leather * waxless skis * wax light, wax-light * wax-like, waxlike * wax-maker * wax-making * wax mallow, waxmallow * wax-man * wax model denture * wax-mold, wax-mould * wax moth, wax-moth * wax motor * wax museum * wax myrtle, wax-myrtle * wax-nose * wax-opal * wax painting, wax-painting * wax palm, wax-palm * wax paper, wax-paper * wax pattern * wax pear * wax pigment * wax-pine * wax-pink * wax plant, wax-plant, waxplant * wax play * wax pocket, wax-pocket * wax-pod bean * wax print * wax-proofed * wax-red * wax resist, wax-resist * wax ring * wax rose * wax-scot * wax shoe * wax-shot * wax-silver * wax size * wax stick * wax tablet * wax taper * wax test * wax-tipped bougie * wax tree, wax-tree * wax-type thermostat * wax vine * (Waxweb) * wax-weed * waxwing * wax wood * waxwork * wax-worker * wax-worm, waxworm * waxy * wax yellow * white wax * white wax tree * the whole ball of wax * wool wax * yellow wax * yellow wax pepper

    Adjective

    (-)
  • Made of wax.
  • * , chapter=10
    • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=He looked round the poor room, at the distempered walls, and the bad engravings in meretricious frames, the crinkly paper and wax flowers on the chiffonier; and he thought of a room like Father Bryan's, with panelling, with cut glass, with tulips in silver pots, such a room as he had hoped to have for his own.}}
    Synonyms
    * waxen
    Derived terms
    See

    Verb

    (es)
  • To apply wax to (something, such as a shoe, a floor, a car, or an apple), usually to make it shiny.
  • To remove hair at the roots from (a part of the body) by coating the skin with a film of wax that is then pulled away sharply.
  • (informal) To defeat utterly.
  • (slang) To kill, especially to murder a person.
  • *
  • * 2009 , and (w), Dean Koontz's Frankenstein: City of Night , ISBN 9780553593334, page 106:
    • "You telling me you know who really waxed him and your mom?" / "Yeah," she lied. / "Just who pulled the trigger or who ordered it to be pulled?"
  • (transitive, archaic, usually, of a musical or oral performance) To record.
    • Synonyms
    * (apply wax to) polish * (to make smooth and shiny by rubbing) buff, shine, polish, furbish, burnish * bump off, knock off, whack
    Derived terms
    * waxed * waxen * waxer * waxing * wax up

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) (m), from (etyl) , (etyl) (m). It is in its turn cognate with (m). See .

    Verb

  • To increasingly assume the specified characteristic, become.
  • *
  • To grow.
  • * 1602 , (William Shakespeare), , act 1, sc. 3, lines 11-14,
    • For nature, crescent, does not grow alone / In thews and bulks, but, as this temple waxes , / The inward service of the mind and soul / Grows wide withal.
  • *{{quote-book, year=1922, author=(Michael Arlen), title= “Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days, chapter=Ep./1/1
    • , passage=And so it had always pleased M. Stutz to expect great things from the dark young man whom he had first seen in his early twenties?; and his expectations had waxed rather than waned on hearing the faint bruit of the love of Ivor and Virginia—for Virginia, M. Stutz thought, would bring fineness to a point in a man like Ivor Marlay, […].}}
  • To appear larger each night as a progression from a new moon to a full moon.
    • Usage notes
    * Older forms are: 2nd per. sing, waxest (label), 3rd per. sing. waxeth (label), and plural form wexen (label). * Alternative simple past form is wex (label) and the alternative past participle is waxen (label).
    Synonyms
    * (to assume specified characteristic) become
    Antonyms
    * (grow) wane * (of the moon) wane
    Derived terms
    * outwax * over-wax, overwax * thorough-wax, thoroughwax, thorow-wax * through-waxen * unwax * wax and wane * wax forth * wax in age * wax in eld * wax lyrical * wax poetic * wax to man's estate * wax wode
    Related terms
    * forthwax * forwax * packwax, paxwax, paxwaxy * taxwax * woadwaxen, woad-waxen, wood-wax, wood-waxen, woodwax, woodwaxen

    Noun

    (-)
  • (rare) The process of growing.
    • Derived terms
    * wax-kernel * waxless

    Etymology 3

    probably from phrases like (term), (wax wode), and similar (see Etymology 2, above).

    Noun

    (es)
  • (dated, colloquial) An outburst of anger.
  • * 1970 , John Glassco, Memoirs of Montparnasse , New York 2007, page 161:
    • ‘That's him to a T,’ she would murmur; or, ‘Just wait till he reads this’; or, ‘Ah, won't that put him in a wax !’
    Derived terms
    * waxy

    See also

    * waxen-kernel * waxloke English terms with multiple etymologies English three-letter words