wax figure
3
3.7
- noun
- /wæks ˈfɪɡjər/
:
figura de cera
- At the exhibition, guests lined up to take photos with the wax figure of the legendary pop star.
- museum filled with wax figures
We both have a wax figure of ourselves because you got a Madame Tussauds wax figure.
- We both have a wax figure of ourselves because you got a Madame Tussauds wax figure.
- In the classic thriller House of Wax, the owner of a wax museum takes the bodies of his victims and turns them into wax figures.
- I have a new wax figure that we're going to be revealing at Madame Tussaud, and my son is in town, so be doing some fun things with him and you guys.
- And also I don't know why but I was curious to know if the wax figures had penises.
- That that was so there wasn't nothing, you know, he was he was my hero, but he he looked like a wax figure.
Examples
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Rihanna has four wax figures of herself at Madame Tussauds Wax Museums in Washington D.C., Vienna, Berlin, and London.
Blog text (20) -
The artist meticulously crafted a wax figure of the famous actress, capturing her signature smile.
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That is, he successfully passes himself off as a wax figure in order to remain in the museum past closing time.
Academic text (1995) -
I guess kids today don't care about wax figures or stuffed animals.
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More wax figures were clustered around the edge of the room, embedded in the wall or in each other.
Fiction book (1999) -
On cue, a giant wax figure was hoisted into the air.
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Two years after Robert Pattinson's wax figure was unveiled, Taylor Lautner is finally getting his due.
Blog text (19) -
After World War II, as Napoleonic nostalgia further intensified, Major Cotton's old inn was turned into the present museum filled with wax figures of Napoleon and his generals.
Academic text (2007) -
When we visited the museum, we were amazed by the lifelike detail of the wax figure of Albert Einstein.
Synonyms
381
1.0
A carved figure, often life-size, of a person or animal made from stone
234
3.1
The shape of a person's body
37
3.4
The art of making three-dimensional figures by carving or molding
2
7.4
A life-sized figure of a person made of wax and shown in museums
How Lifelike
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly compositional: 'wax' names the material and 'figure' names a likeness or statue, so a learner who knows both words can infer a statue made of wax. This simple noun–noun compound follows productive, cross-linguistic patterns of material + object and is therefore easily understandable at the B1 level.
Etymology
Wax figure comes from making a figure, a model of a person, out of wax. Because wax can be shaped to show small face details and has a soft, skin-like look, these models often seem very real, so the phrase now means 'a statue or likeness of a person made from wax'.