Antedate of 'wax' = 'speak emotionally'

[Marc Velasco]

I'd wager it was when people stopped keeping track of the moon.


On Sat, Aug 2, 2008 at 2:52 PM, Benjamin Zimmer <
bgzimmer at babel.ling.upenn.edu> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Benjamin Zimmer <bgzimmer at BABEL.LING.UPENN.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: Antedate of 'wax' = 'speak emotionally'
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> On Sat, Aug 2, 2008 at 2:49 PM, sagehen <sagehen at westelcom.com> wrote:
> >
> > I've lost track of the query at the bottom of this thread. Is it merely
> the
> > application of "wax(ed)" to speech, rhetoric, writing,&c., or
> > the"wax(ed)"+ADV in place of the older "wax(ed)"+ADJ?   Waxing
> enthusiastic
> > (passionate, emotional, eloquent, whatever) seems to me to have been
> around
> > forever.
>
> At least since 1842, according to the OED (cite for "wax eloquent").
> Neal Whitman's question was about using that sense ("to speak or write
> (increasingly) in the manner specified") with an adverbial complement.
>
> Further complicating this history is the occasional example of "wax
> ADV" where "wax" has the traditional sense of "grow":
>
> ----
> 1867 _Daily Evening Bulletin_ (San Francisco) 11 Dec. 1/3 At the
> meeting on Tuesday night of the Democratic Union Mayoralty Convention,
> there was a fierce contest between friends and opponents of Fernande,
> which at one time had waxed so furiously that the guardians of the law
> were obliged to resort to their clubs in order to restore peace.
> ----
>
> --Ben Zimmer
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org