waxworks
Americannoun
-
waxworks
plural
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of waxworks
First recorded in 1690–1700; wax 1 + work ( def. ) + -s 3 ( def. )
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
At Barnum’s American Museum in New York City, visitors could see America’s first aquarium, a menagerie of exotic animals, performances by magicians and ventriloquists, and waxworks.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 25, 2026
When you walk through a crowd of strangers it’s next door to impossible not to imagine that they’re all waxworks, but probably they’re thinking just the same about you.
From Salon ● Sep. 1, 2025
The waxworks are horror-show images of the consequences of fear of decline.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 7, 2025
A sculpture of a Greggs sausage roll is to be unveiled at Madame Tussauds waxworks museum.
From BBC ● May 29, 2025
He wanted to take me to the waxworks, the flower clock, the Maid of the Mist.
From "Cat's Eye" by Margaret Atwood
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
