| 释义 |
▪ I. candle, n.|ˈkænd(ə)l|
Forms: 1–4 condel, -ell, 1–6 candel, -ell, 3 Orm. kanndell, 3–4 kandel, 4–5 condle, -il, kandil, 5 candelle, -ylle, -yle, -ulle, -ul, 5–6 -yl, 4– candle, (dial. cannel, -le, kennel.)
[OE. candel, cǫndel fem., ad. L. candēla (or candella) ‘candle’, f. candē-re to shine. One of the Latin words introduced at the English Conversion, and long associated chiefly with religious observances: even in the 15th c. three of the glossaries in Wright-Wülcker include ‘candle’ among the ‘names of things pertaining to the church’ (nomina pertinencia ecclesiæ). This sacred character of the word bears on the OE. poetic compounds Godes candel, heofoncandel, etc. in 2. The southern ME. pl. was condlen.
L. candēla came down in Romance as It., Pr., Sp. canˈdela, Pg. canˈdea. OF. chandeile, -doile, ONF. candeile, -doile. The actual F. chandelle (OF. chandele) represents a late L. variant candella (usual in med.L.), assimilated to diminutives in -ella. (Cf. querēla, querella.) The occasional late ME. spelling candelle may have been after French.]
I.
1. a. A source of artificial light, consisting of a usually cylindrical body of wax, tallow, spermaceti, or other solid fat, formed round a wick of cotton or flax, formerly also, of the pith of a rush.
Candles are distinguished according to the method of manufacture, as dipped candle or mould candles, by the material employed, or by some other peculiarity, as Paris candle, royal candle, etc. The word is also used without plural as a name of material, as in a piece of candle, an inch of candle.
a700Erfurt Gloss. 382 (O.E.T.) Emunctoria, candelthuist. a800Corpus Gloss. 745 Emunctoria, candeltwist. c1000Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 154 Lampas, candeles leoma. a1154O.E. Chron. an. 1140 Me lihtede candles to æten bi. 1297R. Glouc. 290 Þat chyld heo bete so stronge myd þe condlen long & towe. 1386Chaucer Wife's Prol. 334 A nigard that wol werne A man to light a candel at his lanterne. 1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. viii. xvi. (1495) 322 A glasse sette byfore a candle receuyth lighte of a candil. 1477Earl Rivers (Caxton) Dictes 69 Is like to hym that lighteth a candelle to another. 1579in Turner Rec. Oxford 402 A pound of the best cotton candells. 1613Shakes. Hen. VIII, iii. ii. 96 This Candle burnes not cleere, 'tis I must snuffe it, Then out it goes. 1662Earl of Orrery State Lett. (1743) I. 117 To provide fire and candle. 1708Brit. Apollo No. 89. 2/1 Why should a Rush Candle burn longer than a Cotten one? 1771Smollett Humph. Cl. I. 15 May, Ten mould-candles, that had scarce ever been lit. 1851W. P. Snow Jrnl. Arct. Seas. iv. 46 Very little candle was required below at night. 1856Emerson Eng. Traits xii. Universities Wks. (Bohn) II. 91 No candle or fire is ever lighted in the Bodleian.
b. In religious or superstitious use.
a1300Cursor M. 20701 Gas þan wit fair processiun..Wit cirges and wit candel bright. c1400Apol. Loll. 48 Wil þu offir a candil þat þu geyt merit & grace? 1554Woodde Dial. D j in Brand Pop. Antiq. (1870) I. 27 Wherefore serveth holye Candels? To light up in thunder, and to bless men when they lye a dying. 1561Pilkington Burn. St. Pauls I iv b, ibid. We shuld bear our Candel at her [the Virgin's] Churching at Candlemas. 1611Cotgr. s.v. Chandelle..There was for euery Saint his candle. 1824W. Irving T. Trav. II. 101 A votive candle placed before the image of a saint. 1865Trollope Belton Est. I. 13 (Hoppe) Captain Aylmer was member for Perivale in the Low Church interest..He would say a sharp word or two..about vestments; he was strong against candles [i.e. the use of candles on the altar or communion-table in Anglican churches].
†c. as used at a sale by auction: see 5 d.
1662Pepys Diary 3 Sept., After dinner we met and sold the hulkes, where pleasant to see how backward men are at first to bid; and yet when the candle is going out how they bawl. 1690Records E. Ind. Comp., Mr. Thorowgood to manage the Company's Candle at the Sale.
d. A standard spermaceti candle formerly used as a unit of illuminating power: hence candle power; freq. called international candle. Also, with prefixed numeral, = candle power (see 7). Replaced as a unit of luminous intensity by the new candle (see quot. 1937) = candela.
[1860Act 23 & 24 Vict. c. 125 §25 The Quality of the Common Gas..shall be..such as to produce..a Light equal in Intensity to the Light produced by not less than Twelve Sperm Candles.] 1869Roscoe Elem. Chem. 98 Cannel gas is said to be equal to 34.4 candles. 1875Ure Dict. Arts II. 553, 10,500 cubic feet of 25-candle gas to the ton. 1880J. W. Urquhart Electr. Lt. 279 A 2,000-candle light. Ibid. 282 A hundred-candle Sugg gas-burner. 1883Harper's Mag. Feb. 482/1 One hour's light of two-thousand candle-power. 1917Trans. Illum. Engin. Soc. XII. 440 Candle, the unit of luminous intensity maintained by the national laboratories of France, Great Britain and the United States... This unit, which is used also by many other countries, has..been referred to as the international candle. [1937Com. Internat. Poids & Mesures XVIII. 216 L'adoption d'une nouvelle définition de l'unité d'intensité lumineuse... Le Comité se rallie á la proposition d'appeler ‘bougie nouvelle’ l'unité qui vient d'être définie.] 1938Light & Lighting XXXI. 186/1 The initiation of the new international candle, based upon..a primary standard of light (one-sixtieth of the luminous intensity of one square centimetre of a black body maintained at the temperature of solidification of platinum)... Laboratories are preparing groups of lamps to be measured in terms of the new candle, which is to come into operation in 1940.
†2. fig. A source of light; applied poetically (with attributes) to the natural luminaries. In OE. poetry dæᵹ candel, heofon-candel, rodor candel, woruld-candel, Godes candel, were poetical terms for the sun. Obs.
Beowulf 3148 Hadre scineþ rodores candel. 937O.E. Chron., Glad ofer grundas Godes condel beorht. c1374Chaucer Compl. Mars 7 Loo yonde the sunne the candel of Ialosye. 1592Shakes. Rom. & Jul. iii. v. 9 Nights candles are burnt out. 1596R. L[inche] Diella (1877) 37 He that can count the candles of the skie. 1634Bp. Hall Occas. Medit. xlix. Wks. (1808) 148 On a glow-worm. What a cold candle is lighted up, in the body of this sorry worm.
†3. fig.
a. That which illuminates the mind.
1532Frith Mirr. to know Thyself (1829) 267 Yet will I set you up a candle which shall..clearly dispel his mist and vain poetry. 1555Latimer in Foxe A. & M. (1631) III. xi. 503/2 Wee shall this day light such a Candle by Gods grace in England, as I trust shall neuer bee put out. a1619Daniel Coll. Hist. Eng. (1634) 2 Since the candle of letters gave us some little light therof.
b. The ‘light’ of life.
1535Coverdale Job. xxi. 17 How oft shal the candle of y⊇ wicked be put out. 1593Shakes. 3 Hen. VI, ii. vi. 1 Heere burnes my candle out; I, heere it dies. 1605― Macb. v. v. 23 Out, out, breefe Candle, Life's but a walking Shadow. 1642Fuller Holy & Prof. St. i. ii. 6 Her candle was put out, as soon as the day did dawn in S. Augustine. 1768Blackstone Comm. II. 175.
4. transf.
a. A preparation containing resinous or aromatic substances for diffusion during burning; a pastil. medicated candle: (see quots.)
1621Burton Anat. Mel. i. iii. iii. (1651) 210 Perfumes, suffumigations, mixt candles, perspective glasses, and such natural causes. 1753Chambers Cycl. Supp. s.v., Medicinal Candles, candelæ fumales, are compositions of odoriferous, aromatic, and inflammable matters, as benzoin, storax..formed into masses in shape of candles. The effluvia and odours whereof when burnt, are supposed to be salutary to the breast. 1880Syd. Soc. Lex., Medicated candle, a candle containing some drug for diffusion during burning..Mercurial candle.
†b. A bougie; a suppository. Obs.
1684tr. Bonet's Merc. Compit. xix. 839 Suppositories are made round like Candles..whence they call them Candles from the similitude. 1753Chambers Cycl. Supp. s.v., Candles for caruncles of the urinary passage. [1881Syd. Soc. Lex., Candela, bougie.]
c. Mucus pendulous at the nose.
1858Geo. Eliot Amos Barton ii. (D.) The inveterate culprit was a boy of seven, vainly contending against candles at his nose by feeble sniffing.
d. Christmas candle, Roman candle, q.v.e. The inflorescence or panicle of a horse-chestnut tree. in candle: of a chestnut tree, in flower.
1920E. Sitwell Wooden Pegasus 48 The chestnut-candles flicker. 1938T. H. G. Stevens Trees & Shrubs in my Garden vii. 118 The Common Horse Chestnut from Albania is one of the finest flowering trees with its great candles of white flowers in May. 1954‘C. Dane’ Flower Girls l. 448 ‘Horse-chestnuts... The leaf prints off like a horse-shoe,’ said Ernest, adding that the tree ‘in candle’ was the most beautiful sight. 1968C. P. Snow Sleep of Reason (1969) xxxviii. 357 In a public garden the candles stood bright on the flowering chestnuts. 1983P. Mortimer Handyman vi. 55 A huge horse-chestnut bearing a thousand candles hung over Slattery's wall.
II.
5. Phrases. a. candle, book, and bell: seebell n.1 8.
a1300Cursor M. 17110 Curced in kirc þan sal þai be wid candil, boke, and bell. 1842Barham Ingol. Leg., Jackdaw of Rheims, The cardinal rose with a dignified look, He called for his candle, his bell and his book.
†b. to set, light, proffer a candle before or to the devil: to propitiate or humour him, as saints are supposed to be propitiated by a votive candle; later, to hold a candle to the devil (by confusion with c): to serve or assist an evil person, to be active in evil courses. Obs.
c1461Paston Lett. No. 428 II. 73 A man must sumtyme set a candel befor the devyle. 1562J. Heywood Prov. & Epigr. (1867) 20, I fearyng She would spit her venym, thought it not euyll To sette vp a candle before the deuyll. 1577Tusser Husb. (1878) 148 Thou maist find ease so proffering vp a candell to the deuill. 1599Marston Pigmal. ii. 145 A damn'd Macheuelian Holds candle to the deuill for a while, That he the better may the world beguile. 1649Howell Pre-em. Parl. 20 According to the Italian Proverb, That one must sometimes light a candle to the Devil. c1670Lady Abergavenny in R. Mansell Narr. Popish Plot 12 She could not endure to hear it, but yet was forced to hold a Candle to the Devil. 1828Scott F.M. Perth II. 213 (D.) Here have I been holding a candle to the devil, to show him the way to mischief.
c. to hold a candle to another: lit. to assist him by holding the candle while he works; hence, to help in a subordinate position. not to be able or fit to hold a candle to: not fit to hold even a subordinate position to, nothing to be compared to.
1550Crowley Way to Wealth 131 Dise playars..that haue nothynge to playe for..Holde the candle to them that haue wherewyth, and wyll sette lustily to it. 1590Greene Never too late (1600) 19 Driuen..when I am worst able, forst to hold the candle. 1596Shakes. Merch. V. ii. vi. 41 Lorenzo. Descend, for you must be my torch-bearer. Jessica. What, must I hold a Candle to my shames? 1614T. Adams Devil's Banq. 225 Let Plato then, hold the candle to Moses. 1640Sir E. Dering Carmelite (1641) 43 Though I be not worthy to hold the candle to Aristotle. 1773Byrom Poems, Others aver that he to Handel Is scarcely fit to hold a candle. 1883W. E. Norris No New Thing I. vii. 175 Edith is pretty, very pretty; but she can't hold a candle to Nellie.
d. to sell or let by the candle, by inch of candle, etc.: to dispose of by auction in which bids are received so long as a small piece of candle burns, the last bid before the candle goes out securing the article; hence in many fig. and transf. uses. Cf. auction 3.
This appears to have been a custom adopted from the French; cf. Littré, also Cotgr., s.v. Chandelle.
1652Milton Lett. State Wks. 1738 II. 169 The Council thinks it meet to propose the way of selling by inch of Candle, as being the most probable means to procure the true Value of the goods. 1672Sir T. Browne Lett. to Friend xx. (1881) 141 Mere pecuniary matches, or marriages made by the candle. 1680in Sir J. Picton L'pool Munic. Rec. (1883) I. 287 The new marked ground..was lett by inch of candle in the towne hall. 1697Collier Ess. Mor. Subj. ii. (1709) 53 To give Interest a share in Friendship, is in effect to sell it by Inch of Candle. 1700Act 11 & 12 Will. III, in Lond. Gaz. No. 6129/1 All such Goods..shall be sold at publick Sale by the Candle. 1797Burke Regic. Peace iv. Wks. IX. 84 Where British faith and honour are to be sold by inch of candle. 1825Hone Every-day Bk. I. 837 Four acres..are let by inch of Candle. 1851N. & Q. 15 Nov. 383 Forty or fifty years ago goods were advertised for public sale by the candle.
1727–51Chambers Cycl. s.v., There is also a kind of Excommunication by Inch of Candle; wherein, the time a lighted Candle continues burning, is allowed the sinner to come to repentance; but after which, he remains excommunicated to all intents and purposes.
†e. to smell of the candle: i.e. of work by night, of close and prolonged study. Obs.
1604Hieron Wks. I. 504 If that bee commendation..for a mans labours to smell of the candle. (Cf. lamp.)
f. the game, play, etc. is not worth the candle: i.e. not worth the mere cost of supplying the necessary light (cf. 1550 in 5 c); not worth the labour expended.
(Of French origin: cf. Cotgr. s.v. Chandelle ‘Le jeu ne vaut pas la chandelle, it will not quit cost’.)
a1690Temple Ess. Health Wks. 1731 I. 274 Perhaps the Play is not worth the Candle. c1700Gentl. Instruct. (1732) 556 (D.) After all, these discoveries are not worth the candle. 1874P. Bayne in Contemp. Rev. Oct. 706 The game would not be worth the candle.
g. to light or burn the candle at both ends: to consume or waste in two directions at once.
(Cf. Cotgr. ‘Brusler la chandelle par lex deux bouts’.)
1730–6Bailey, s.v., The Candle burns at both Ends. Said when Husband and Wife are both Spendthrifts. 1753Hanway Trav. (1762) II. i. iii. 19 Apt to light their candle at both ends; that is to say, they are apt to consume too much, and work too little. 1848Kingsley Saint's Trag. iii. i. 140 To double all your griefs, and burn life's candle, As village gossips say, at either end.
h. Various phrases obvious in meaning.
1551–6Robinson tr. More's Utop. (1869 Arb.) 27 Set-furth the brightnes of the sonne with a candell as the Prouerbe saieth. 1579Gosson Sch. Abuse (Arb.) 41, I burnt one candle to seek another, and lost bothe my time and my trauell, when I had doone. 1581Lambarde Eiren. iii. iv. 361, I shal but set a Candle in the Sunshine. 1607Topsell Four-f. Beasts Pref., Another Physitian, lighting his Candle by the former lights, succeeded them in this great undertaking. 1676M. Clifford Hum. Reason in Phenix (1708) II. 532 Men grope in the dark that light not their Candle at ours. 1728Young Love Fame vii. 97 How commentators each dark passage shun, And hold their farthing candle to the sun. a1873Lytton K. Chillingly viii. vii (Hoppe) Slothfully determined to hide his candle under a bushel [cf. Matt. v. 15].
III. attrib. and Comb.
6. General relations:
a. attributive, as candle-dish, candle-flame, candle-grease, candle-rack, candle-screen, candle-shade, candle-shine, candle-smoke, candle-time, candle-wright, etc.; candle-lit adj.b. objective, as candle-bearer, candle-bearing, candle-maker, candle-making, candle-seller, etc.
1555Fardle Facions ii. xii. 267 The Acholite..occupieth the roume of *Candle-bearer.
1899Pall Mall Mag. Jan. 77 Two silver *candledishes.
1887Spectator 2 Apr. 463/1 Draughts which no *candle-flame was sensitive enough to indicate.
1774Goldsm. Nat. Hist. VII. iii. (Jod.) Drops of *candlegrease.
1868Whittier Meeting in Compl. Wks. (1898) 486/1 No altar *candle-lit by day. 1890Pall Mall Gaz. 22 Oct. 2/3 This candlelit old hall. 1916H. G. Wells Mr. Britling ii. §9 Equally unexpected was the supper on a long candlelit table without a cloth.
1611Cotgr., Chandelier..a Chaundler, or *Candle-maker, or Candle-seller.
1611Tourneur Ath. Trag. v. ii. (1878) 142 Back to your *candle-making! c1865Letheby in Circ. Sc. I. 98/1 We do not employ much wax..for candle-making.
1863Baring-Gould Iceland 209 A curious *candlerack of wrought iron foliage.
1819Post Off. Lond. Direct. 324 *Candle-screen Manufacturers.
1780Hickey's Bengal Gaz. 8 Apr. (Y.), Borrowed last Month by a Person or Persons unknown..a very elegant Pair of *Candle Shades. a1916H. James Middle Years (1917) 76 Milford Cottage, with its innumerable red candles and candle-shades. 1967J. Rathbone Diamonds Bid xvii. 147 The glass candle shade on my own table.
1853Charles Auchester III. 230 By *candleshine, or the setting sun.
1647R. Stapylton Juvenal 85 Foul'd with *candlesmoak.
1658Songs Costume (1849) 168 But you keep off till *candle-time.
1766Entick London IV. 3 A street occupied..by *candle-wrights, or candle-makers.
7. Special comb.: candle-ball, -bomb, a small glass bubble filled with water, which when held in the flame of a candle, bursts with a loud explosion; candle-bark (dial.), a candle-box (cf. bark n.1 8); candle-box, a box for keeping candles in; † candle-branch, a chandelier (cf. branch n. 2 d); candle-bush, a South African plant, Sarcocaulon patersoni, so called from the readiness with which it burns; candle-canting (see quot. and cf. 5 d); † candle-case, a case or box to keep candles in; candle-dipper, a machine for making candles by dipping; candle-dipping, the process of manufacturing candles by dipping as distinguished from moulding; also attrib., as in candle-dipping machine; candle-fir (Sc.), ‘fir that has been buried in a morass, moss-fallen fir, split and used instead of candles’ (Jamieson); candle-fish, a sea-fish of the salmon family, frequenting the rivers of north-western America, which on account of its extreme oiliness is used when dried as a candle; † candle-fly, ‘a flie that houering about a candle burnes itself’ (Florio s.v. Farfalla), a moth; candle-foot = foot-candle; candle-hour, ? time when candles are burnt, night-time; † candle-inch (see 5 d); candle-lamp, a kind of lamp in which candles are used; candle-match, a match or fusee made of the wick of a candle, or of a piece of greased paper; candle-metre, the illumination of a standard candle at a distance of one metre; † candle-mine (fig.), a mine of fat or candle material; candle-mould, a mould or mould-frame for making candles in, now usually made of pewter or tin; candle-nut, the commercial name for the fruit of the candleberry tree, or candle-nut tree; candle-paper, a spill for lighting candles; candle power, (a) see sense 1 d above; (b) the illuminating power of an electric lamp, etc., reckoned in terms of the light of a standard candle; † candle-quencher, an extinguisher; † candle-rush, the common rush, formerly used for making rush lights; † candle-shears, snuffers; candle-shrift, penance done with candles; † candle-silver, a money-payment for the supply of candles; candle-slate (see quot.); † candle-sniting, the snuff of a candle; † candle-stuff, (a) study or work done by candle-light; (b) material for candles; candle-teening (dial.), -tending, -tining, the time for lighting or seeing to the candles, evening, nightfall. Also candleberry, -end, -light, -stick, etc.
1794G. Adams Nat. & Exp. Philos. I. ix. 325 This effect of vapour is..exemplified by the small machines called *candle-balls.
1823in Crabb Technol. Dict., *Candle-bomb.
1875Lanc. Gloss. (E.D.S.) *Candle-bark, cannel-bark, a candle-box.
1566J. Haryngton in Leisure Ho. (1884) 630/1 That no mans bed be vnmade, nor fire or *candle box vncleane, after eight o'clock in the morning. 1837Carlyle Fr. Rev. II. iv. vii. 223 Amid candle-boxes and treacle-barrels.
1599Minsheu Span. Dict., Candeléro de tinieblas, a *candle-branch that hath many candlestickes in it.
1890A. Martin Home Life Ostrich Farm 60 The kerzbosch, or *candle-bush, a stunted, thorny plant, if lighted at one end when in the green state, will burn steadily just like a wax candle. 1966E. Palmer Plains of Camdeboo xvi. 258 The men cut long forked sticks, spiked on the fork a Candlebush which burns like paraffin, and..moved quickly from clump to clump, burning off the noors spines.
1875Robinson Whitby Gloss. s.v. Canting (E.D.S.) ‘A *cannle-canting’ when articles were appraised until a candle burned down to a certain mark, and the highest bidder got the bargain.
1596Shakes. Tam. Shr. iii. ii. 45 A paire of bootes that haue beene *candle-cases. 1604B. Jonson Case is Altered, Neither knive-cases, Pinne-cases, nor Candle-cases.
1882Standard 7 Oct. 5/2 The wonderful *candle-fish, or ‘oolachan’, which ascends the North-Western rivers in March. 1886Montreal Gaz. 14 Aug. 2/4 Advt., British Columbia ‘Candle Fish’. This delicious fish, the ‘oolachan’ packed in small tubs—for family trade.
1626Cockeram ii, Farfalla, a *Candle-Fly. 1733Bailey Erasm. Colloq. (1877) 392 (D.) Why should an owl be an enemy to small birds..a turtle-dove to a candle-fly?
1892A. P. Trotter in Min. Proc. Inst. Civil Engineers CX. 71 As the heights of lamp-posts and the width of streets are measured in feet, the *candle-foot, that is, the illumination produced by one standard candle at a distance of 1 foot, will be taken in the present Paper as the unit of illumination. 1902Encycl. Brit. XXVIII. 83/2 In order that street surfaces may be well lighted, the minimum illumination should not fall below 0·1 candle-foot. 1928Sunday Dispatch 30 Dec. 7/5 (L.C.C. Regulation) The lighting maintained in no part of the auditorium shall be less than ·025 candle-foot.
1650G. Daniel Trinarch., Crastini Anim. 12 Till when, our Numbers (destin'd to more) Creeps to a corner, at a *Candle-Hower.
1719D'Urfey Pills I. 355 Meaning by *Candle-Inch to buy my Lot.
1882E. O'Donovan Merv Oasis I. xxvi. 448 On the table burned half a dozen *Candle-lamps.
1908Westm. Gaz. 23 Mar. 4/2 The values are expressed in ‘*candle-mètres’.
1597Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, ii. iv. 326 You whorson *Candle-myne you.
1566in Rogers Agric. & Prices III. 577/2 *Candle-mould. 1655Marquis of Worcester Cent. Inv. Index 8 A Candle-mold.
1835–6Todd Cycl Anat. I. 58/1 The fruits of the Aleurites triloba..the *candle-nuts of the inhabitants of these remote regions. 1884Leisure Ho. Feb. 86/2 Candle-nuts, which are exceedingly hard, but yield good oil.
1854Simmonds Comm. Products Veget. Kingd. (L.) The *candlenut tree grows in the Polynesian Islands.
1829Praed Poems (1865) I. 363 Twisting up his song Into the sweetest *candle-papers.
1877Engineering XXIV. 333 In measuring the *candle power of the light produced by each machine. 1880J. W. Urquhart Electr. Lt. 278 Six electric lights of 480-candle power each. 1883Candle power [see candle n. 1 d]. 1894Salomons Electr. Lt. Install. (ed. 7) II. 248 The amount of energy required to incandesce the lamp determines its candle-power efficiency. 1934Discovery June 155/2 The official physical standards of the country, e.g., length, mass, temperature, candle-power.
1382Wyclif Ex. xxv. 38 *Candelquenchers, and forsothe where the snoffes ben quenchid, be thei maad of moost puyr gold.
c1440Promp. Parv. 60 *Candylrysche [v.r. candel-rushe], papirus. 1578Lyte Dodoens iv. lii. 511 The first [kind]..serueth for Matches to burne in lampes..is called..in English, the Rush candle, or candle rushe: Camels strawe. 1679Plot Staffordsh. (1686) 379 Both which it seems are Candle-rushes.
1483Cath. Angl. 52 A *Candyl schers, emunctorium. 1611Rates (Jam.) Candlesheares, the dozen pair xxxs.
1871Rossetti Dante at Ver. lvii, This Dante writ in answer thus..Hither to *candleshrift and mulct.
1420Will of T. Exton, *Candelsilvyr qui in eadem ecclesia ut in aliis ecclesiis civitatis predicte tempore paschali colligi solent & levari.
1854Pharmac. Jrnl. XIII. 623 *Candle-slates, and other bituminous shales.
1483Cath. Angl. 53 A *Candylsnytynge, licinus, licinum.
1589Nashe in Greene Menaphon (Arb.) 10 For recreation after their *Candle-stuffe. 1626Bacon Sylva §774 By the help of Oyl and Wax, and other Candle-stuff; the flame may continue and the wick not burn.
1519W. Horman Vulg. 261 About *candell tendynge the fyghtynge broke of. 1613T. Godwin Rom. Antiq. (1625) 132 Prima fax, Candle-tining. 1746Exmoor Scolding (E.D.S.) 314 Vrom candle-dowting to candle-teening.
▪ II. ˈcandle, v. nonce-wd.
[f. prec.]
†1. to candle over: to cover with the material of candles. Obs.
1676Marvell Mr. Smirke 16 Is it the Taeda, in which they candled a Man over in Wax, and he, instead of the wick, burnt out to his lives end like a Taper, to give light to the Company?
2. To test by allowing the light of a candle to shine through.
1879Daily News 28 Aug. 3/7 Letters..‘candled’, like suspicious eggs, to detect whether more than one sheet was covered by the enclosure. 1883Ibid. 1 Aug. 5/1 An old-fashioned post-office, with clerks ‘candling’ the letters. |