flambeau
/ˈflambəʊ
/noun (plural flambeaus or flambeaux /ˈflambəʊz/) historical
1A flaming torch, especially one made of several thick wicks dipped in wax.At night, parades feature flambeaux (burning torches) carried by figures in white robes....
- There, he relates how ‘I took from their sconces two flambeaux [torches], and giving one to Fortunato, bowed him through several suites of rooms to the archway that led into the vaults.’
1.1A large candlestick with several branches.The Betrayal of Christ (National Gallery, Dublin) is set in darkness tumultuous with the flicker of flambeaux on steel....
- There were no streetlights on this side of town; only the occasional privately maintained flambeaux outside some gambling den or brothel broke the dark.
- We passed through a range of low arches, descended, passed on, and descending again, arrived at a deep crypt, in which the foulness of the air caused our flambeaux rather to glow than flame.
Origin
Mid 17th century: from French, from flambe 'a flame'.
Rhymes
- petrolene
- petroleous
- petroleum
- petroleum coke
- petroleum ether
- petroleum fly
- petroleum geologist
- petroleum geology
- petroleum jelly
- petroleum oil
- petroleum spirit
- petroleum well
- petroleur
- petroleuse
- petrol gage
- petrol gauge
- petrolhead
- petrolic
- petroliferous
- petroline
- petrol injection
- petrolization
- petrolless
- petrol lighter
- petrologic