candle (kandl)

[ Turk. gandil, Sp. can dil, a lamp), 788 spermaceti, or other fatty material, formed on a wick composed of linen or cotton threads woven or twisted loosely, or (as formerly) of the pith of a rush, and used as a source of artificial light. Miche of my candel in waaste y spende, Manye wickid wind is hath wastid it away. Hymns to Virgin , etc. (E. E. T. S.), p. 69. Candle mas-bell candle-coal, n . See cannel - coal . candle-end (kan'dl-end), п . The fag-end of a candle burned down; hence, a petty saving; a scrap; a fragment; a worthle trifle: chiefly but on a candlestick. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, 2. One candle-power: used as a standard of comparison. See candle-power.-3. In soda manuf., a name given to the jets of sulphureted candle-fir (kan'dl-fèr), n. Fir that has been buried in a mo or peat-bog for a long time. It is split and used in some places, especially in the rural parts of Ireland, to burn for light. Faith! 'tis true, Sir, We are but spans and candles ' ends . Fletcher, Humorous Lieutenant, iii. 5. Electric candle, a form of the electric-are lamp, as the Jablochkoff candle, which resembles an ordinary candle in form. See electric light, under electric.- Excommunication by candle, a form of excommunication in which the offender was allowed time to repent only while a candle burned out. - Flat candle, the candle burned in a flat candlestick (which see, under candlestick ). The idea of a girl with a really fine head of hair, having to do it by one flat candle and a few inches of looking gla . Dickens, Our Mutual Friend, iv. Mineral candle, a kind of candle made from a semi-fluid naphtha obtained from wells sunk in the neighborhood of the Irrawaddy river in Burma. - Not fit to hold a (or the) candle to (one), very inferior. The allusion is to link-boys who held torches or candles to light pa engers. Some say, compared to Buononcini That Mynheer Handel's but a ninny; Others aver that he to Handel Is scarcely fit to hold a candle. Byrom, Feuds between Handel and Buononcini. Rush candle, a candle made of the pith of certain rushes, peeled except on one side, and dipped in tallow. -Sale by candle. See auction by inch of candle, under auction. The game is not worth the candle (le jeu ne vaut pas la chandelle), the object is not worth the pains requisite for its attainment: a phrase of French origin. - To burn the candle at both ends, to be reckle and extravagant; live too fast, especially by the exhaustion of vitality by overwork, the combination of hard work with di ipation or fatiguing pleasures, or the like. You can't burn the candle at both ends, and make any thing by it in the long run; and it is the long pull that you are to rely on. S. Bowles, in Merriam's Bowles, I. 299. To drink off candles' endst (that is, the melted tallow at the burning ends of candles), a feat at one time practised by amorous gallants to afford a strong testimony of zeal for the lady whose health was drunk. Drinks off candles ' ends for flap dragons. Shak . , 2 Hen. IV., ii. 4. Carouse her health in cans And candles ' ends. It consists of a balanced lever or scale, on the shorter arm of which the candle is supported, while a weight is hung on the longer arm or scale-beam in such a way as to bal- ance it exactly. The candle is then lighted, and the weight is shifted to a known weight, say one ounce. When the candle has lost one ounce in weight, the scale again bal- ances, and this closes an electric circuit and gives a signal. candle-bark (kan'dl-bärk), n. A candle-case. [Prov. Eng.] candle-beam (kan'dl-bēm), n. In old churches, a horizontal bar, rail, or beam furnished with prickets for holding candles, around each of which was a saucer to catch the drippings. Candle-beams were placed over or near the altar, and also at the entrance to the choir or chancel, where the rood- beam or rood-screen was placed in richer churches. beam. A candle candleberry (kan'dl-ber"i), n .; pl. candleberries (-iz). 1. The fruit of Aleurites triloba , the candleberry-tree: so named because the ker- nels, when dried and stuck on a reed, are used by the Polynesians as candles. Also called candlenut. 2. The wax-myrtle, Myrica ceri- fer a , and its fruit. See Myrica . candleberry-tree (kan'dl-ber"i-trē), п. Aleurites triloba . See Alcurites . The candle-bomb (kan'dl-bom), n. A small gla bubble filled with water, which when placed in the wick of a candle explodes from the force of the steam that is generated. candle-case (kan'dl-kās), n. A cylindrical box used for holding candles. Thale ichthys pacific us , an anadromous, deep-sea, Candle-fish (Thale ichthys pacific us). salmonoid fish of the smelt family, Argent i nid a, resembling a smelt in form, but with weaker dentition, smaller scales, dusky coloration, and attaining a length of nearly a foot. It occurs in immense shoals off the northwest coast of America in the spring, and ascends all the rivers north of the Columbia to spawn. At the time of the runs the fish is extremely fat, and is not only used for food, as a favorite pan-fish, but for the manufacture of enlachon-oil, proposed as a substitute for cod-liver oil in medicine; and it is also made to serve as a natural candle by inserting in it the pith of a rush or a strip of bark as a wick (whence the name). 2. An acanthopterygian fish of the west coast of North America, Anoplopoma fimbria, type of the family Anoplopomida, resembling a pollock, Candle-fish (Anoplopoma fimbria). and attaining a length of 20 inches and a weight of 5 pounds. See Anoplopomida. Also called black candle-fish, horse- mackerel, and beshow. candle-fly (kan'dl-fli), n. 1t. A firefly. Florio. -2. A Chinese and East Indian lantern-fly, of the family Fulgor ide and genus Fulgor a, such as F. candela ria. See cut under lantern -fly. candle-holder (kan'dl-holder), n. A person who holds a candle; hence, one who remotely a ists, but is otherwise not a sharer, in some affair or undertaking. I'll be a candle - holder and look on. Shak ., R. and J., i. 4.