Also: Wax lyrical over something
Meaning of Idiom ‘To Wax Lyrical About Something’
When you wax lyrical about something you talk about it in an excited, enthusiastic, and sentimental way; to speak poetically about something.
Examples Of Use
“My uncle will often wax lyrical about his high school football days.”
“He waxed lyrical about the by-gone days of simple living.”
Origin
Wax, in this idiom, comes from the Old English wexam and was used in the same sense as our modern word grow, meaning to increase in size, up until the time of Early Modern English. It survives also in the phrase wax and wane, in regards to the moon’s cycle. Lyrical, in this idiom, means to expressing one’s thoughts and feelings in a beautiful way. 1Ayto, John. Oxford Dictionary of English Idioms. Oxford: Oxford U, 2010. ,2McCarthy, Michael. Cambridge International Dictionary of Idioms. Cambridge University Press, 2002
More Idioms Starting with W
- Waste One’s Breath
- Wash Your Hands of (Someone or Something)
- What’s the Damage?
- Work One’s Fingers To the Bone
- Out of Wedlock
More Wax Idioms
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