The Collaborative International Dictionary
Sealing wax \Seal"ing wax`\ A compound of the resinous materials, pigments, etc., used as a material for seals, as for letters, documents, etc.
Wiktionary
alt. wax formerly melted onto a letter to seal it; the picture of the sender's seal was often pressed into the wax as evidence that the letter had not been opened. n. wax formerly melted onto a letter to seal it; the picture of the sender's seal was often pressed into the wax as evidence that the letter had not been opened.
WordNet
n. fastener consisting of a resinous composition that is plastic when warm; used for sealing documents and parcels and letters [syn: seal]
Wikipedia
Sealing wax is a wax material of a seal which, after melting, hardens quickly (to paper, parchment, ribbons and wire, and other material) forming a bond that is difficult to separate without noticeable tampering. Wax is used to verify something such as a document is unopened, to verify the sender's identity, for example with a signet ring, and as decoration. Sealing wax can be used to take impressions of other seals. Wax was used to seal letters close and later, from about the 16th century, envelopes. Before sealing wax, the Romans used bitumen for this purpose.
Usage examples of "sealing wax".
He tore it open, scattering pieces of blue sealing wax over the body of the man he had just killed.
Nandera arrived at almost the same instant as Mistress Harfor, who was carrying a writing case with several steel-nibbed pens and enough paper and ink and sealing wax for fifty letters.
His fingers were trembling when he broke the half-coin from its restraining sealing wax in Dirk Struan's Bible and cleaned it.
Before the man could object, Snorri took out her Letters of Charter and put the roll of parchment with its red ribbon and great blob of red sealing wax in front of the man.
Brown sealing wax had been smeared into every crack and- cranny around the door itself, and every few inches there was a massive, impressed seal with brown tapes embedded in it I peered closely at the seals.
It was a triangular billet, on pink paper, and sealed with a dove and an olive branch, and a profusion of light blue sealing wax, and it was written in a very large, though undecided female hand.
Inside were packets of correspondence tied up with silk cord, a stick of sealing wax, a sand brush, and a penknife.
Inside were packets ofcorrespondence tied up with silk cord, a stickof sealing wax, a sand brush, and a penknife.
The crimson wax seals must surely impress him, and in his writing-case Zouga had two full sticks of sealing wax.
Then he applied sealing wax in a bright green blob below his name, pressed his gryphon seal into the hot wax.
I'll lay anything you like that when you're - eventually in a position to check, you'll find the levers disconnected, the wires crossed, and the inlets of the test cocks blocked with sealing wax, quick-drying paint or even chewing gum, so that when the test cocks were opened, nothing would show and you would assume the tubes to be empty.