CANDLE • FREE-TRANSLATOR.COM • Definition of Candle

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/kˈændəl/ Listen

noun

Candle n.

1.

A slender, cylindrical body of tallow, containing a wick composed of loosely twisted linen of cotton threads, and used to furnish light. "How far that little candle throws his beams! So shines a good deed in a naughty world." Note: Candles are usually made by repeatedly dipping the wicks in the melted tallow, etc. ("dipped candles"), or by casting or running in a mold.

2.

That which gives light; a luminary. "By these blessed candles of the night."

Candle nut, the fruit of a euphorbiaceous shrub (Aleurites triloba), a native of some of the Pacific islands; socalled because, when dry, it will burn with a bright flame, and is used by the natives as a candle. The oil has many uses.

Candle power (Photom.), illuminating power, as of a lamp, or gas flame, reckoned in terms of the light of a standard candle.

Electric candle, A modification of the electric arc lamp, in which the carbon rods, instead of being placed end to end, are arranged side by side, and at a distance suitable for the formation of the arc at the tip; called also, from the name of the inventor, Jablockoff candle.

Excommunication by inch of candle, a form of excommunication in which the offender is allowed time to repent only while a candle burns.

Not worth the candle, not worth the cost or trouble.

Rush candle, a candle made of the pith of certain rushes, peeled except on one side, and dipped in grease.

Sale by inch of candle, an auction in which persons are allowed to bid only till a small piece of candle burns out.

Standard candle (Photom.), a special form of candle employed as a standard in photometric measurements; usually, a candle of spermaceti so constructed as to burn at the rate of 120 grains, or 7.8 grams, per hour.

To curse by bell, book and candle. See under Bell.

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Etymology of 'Candle'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Candle" Quotes from Famous Books

... had thrown in had filled the hut with so much smoke that they were almost suffocated, we threw in a small leather bag of another kind, which flamed like a candle, and, following it in, we found there were but four people, who, as we supposed, had been about some of their diabolical sacrifices. They appeared, in short, frightened to death, at least so as to sit trembling and stupid, and not able to ...

— The Further Adventures of Robinson Crusoe • Daniel Defoe

... for everything, child! Take money out of my purse and go buy a candle. We need not save it for bread now. Oh, child!" she interrupted herself, "do you know, we shall have everything we want to-morrow. Go! Go! I want to see how ...

— The Children's Book of Christmas Stories • Various

... discovering a second later that she had overslept herself because Mr. Constant wished to be woke three-quarters of an hour earlier than usual, and to have his breakfast at seven, having to speak at an early meeting of discontented tram-men. She ran at once, candle in hand, to his bedroom. It was upstairs. All "upstairs" was Arthur Constant's domain, for it consisted of but two mutually independent rooms. Mrs. Drabdump knocked viciously at the door of the one he used for a bedroom, crying, "Seven o'clock, sir. You'll be late, sir. You must ...

— The Grey Wig: Stories and Novelettes • Israel Zangwill

... 600. In my Principles of English Etymology, First Series, Chap. XXI, I give a list of Latin words imported into English before the Norman Conquest. Several of these must be familiar in our dialects; we can hardly suppose that country people do not know the meaning of ark, beet, box, candle, chalk, cheese, cook, coulter, cup, fennel, fever, font, fork, inch, kettle, kiln, kitchen, and the like. Indeed, ark is quite a favourite word in the North for a large wooden chest, used for many purposes; and Kersey explains it as "a country word for a large chest to put fruit ...

— English Dialects From the Eighth Century to the Present Day • Walter W. Skeat

... library, breakfast-room, bed-room and dressing-room (with the great advantage of their combination in one circular room fourteen feet in diameter). The architecture was of an ancient style, from the original design of a pill-box surmounted by a candle extinguisher. ...

— The Nile Tributaries of Abyssinia • Samuel W. Baker

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