> as lemmas

1516 in T. Percy Regulations & Establishm. Houshold Fifth Earl of Northumberland (1768) 280 Expences..as to saye in Breade Wyne Beyr Ale Beif Multounes Catoure-Parcellis Wax White-Lights Spices Salte Otemeal Sawses Fewell [etc.].

a1558 in I. W. Archer et al. Relig., Politics, & Society in 16th-cent. Eng. (2003) 18 Foure gentilmen usshers..have alwaie a chamber within the courte allowed to them and their lyvery unto their chambre of bredd, ale, wyne, wex, white lightes and fewell and cariage.

1610 in Coll. Ordinances Royal Househ. (1790) 335 Halfe a pounde of white lightes..per diem.

1887 J. E. T. Rogers Hist. Agric. & Prices (2011) V. xiii. 382 Sometimes I find white lights, a name which seems to indicate that the ordinary candle was not only coarse but of a bad colour, for white lights are dearer than others.

1995 J. M. Sims-Kimbrey Wodds & Doggerybaw: Lincs. Dial. Dict. 342/2 White-light, a wax candle, as opposed to the yellowness of tallow or beeswax.

1999 R. B. Graves Lighting Shakespearean Stage vii. 160 White lights were used less often and were rather small. Their name derived from the bleached tallow used in their manufacture.