Chafe-wax

A chafe-wax, or chaff-wax, was an officer under the Lord Chancellor, whose duty it was to prepare the wax for sealing documents.[1] The office was abolished in 1852.[1]

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the earliest written reference was in 1607, when 'Chafewaxe' was defined as 'an officer in chauncery, that fitteth the waxe for the sealing of the writs.'[1]

The expression comes from 'chafe', an obsolete verb meaning to warm or heat.[2]

Literature

In his 1850 short story, A Poor Man's Tale of a Patent, Charles Dickens satirises the cost and complexity of the English patent system, as it then was, by having his narrator comment that in order to get a patent in England "I went through thirty-five stages. I began with the Queen upon the Throne. I ended with the Deputy Chaff-wax. Note. I should like to see the Deputy Chaff-wax. Is it a man, or what is it?"[3]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Chafe-wax". Oxford English Dictionary. Retrieved 12 November 2017.
  2. ↑ "Chafe". Oxford English Dictionary. Retrieved 12 November 2017.
  3. ↑ Dickens, Charles (19 October 1850). "A Poor Man's Tale of a Patent". Household Words. London. Retrieved 12 November 2017.
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