flax vs wax

flax

noun
  • A plant of the genus Linum, especially Linum usitatissimum, which has a single, slender stalk, about a foot and a half high, with blue flowers. Also known as linseed, especially when referring to the seeds. 

  • The flax bush, a plant of the genus Phormium, native to New Zealand, with strap-like leaves up to 3 metres long that grow in clumps. 

  • The fibers of Linum usitatissimum, grown to make linen and related textiles. 

wax

noun
  • Any oily, water-resistant, solid or semisolid substance; normally long-chain hydrocarbons, alcohols or esters. 

  • Any preparation containing wax, used as a polish. 

  • Beeswax. 

  • The process of growing. 

  • Earwax. 

  • A thick syrup made by boiling down the sap of the sugar maple and then cooling it. 

  • A type of drugs with as main ingredients weed oil and butane; hash oil. 

  • The phonograph record format for music. 

adj
  • Made of wax. 

verb
  • To defeat utterly. 

  • To move from low tide to high tide. 

  • 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. 

  • To kill, especially to murder a person. 

  • To grow. 

  • To apply wax to (something, such as a shoe, a floor, a car, or an apple), usually to make it shiny. 

  • To increasingly assume the specified characteristic. 

  • To appear larger each night as a progression from a new moon to a full moon. 

How often have the words flax and wax occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )