Antedate of 'wax' = 'speak emotionally'

[Neal Whitman]

Thanks, Doug and Ben, for the antedatings of intransitive,
non-predicative-adjective-taking 'wax'. I have duly noted Google Books as
another place to look when I'm doing these kinds of searches.

The earliest attestation so far is Doug's find:
> _Lowell [MA] Daily Citizen_, 29 July 1875: p. 3:
>
> The newspapers which publish these charming narratives show at least
> their own estimate of the character of their readers, and their own
> determination to make the press, the engine over which they wax so
> eloquently, the minister of refinement and a softer civilization.

I have put these finds in an update to a blog post I wrote on this topic, at
http://literalminded.wordpress.com/2008/07/31/waxing-on/.

Neal

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