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candle
10 dictionary results for: candle
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This
can·dle 
[kan-dl] Pronunciation Key noun, verb, -dled, -dling.
—Related forms
[kan-dl] Pronunciation Key noun, verb, -dled, -dling. –noun
–verb (used with object)
—Idioms
| 1. | a long, usually slender piece of tallow or wax with an embedded wick that is burned to give light. |
| 2. | something resembling a candle in appearance or use. |
| 3. | Optics.
|
| 4. | to examine (eggs) for freshness, fertility, etc., by holding them up to a bright light. |
| 5. | to hold (a bottle of wine) in front of a lighted candle while decanting so as to detect sediment and prevent its being poured off with the wine. |
| 6. | burn the candle at both ends. burn (def. 43). |
| 7. | hold a candle to, to compare favorably with (usually used in the negative): She's smart, but she can't hold a candle to her sister. |
| 8. | worth the candle, worth the trouble or effort involved (usually used in the negative): Trying to win them over to your viewpoint is not worth the candle. |
[Origin: bef. 900; ME, OE candel < L candéla, equiv. to cand(ére) to shine + -éla deverbal n. suffix; see candid]
] —Related forms
candler, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
| can·del·a
(kān-děl'ə) Pronunciation Key
n. Abbr. cd A unit of luminous intensity equal to 1/60 of the luminous intensity per square centimeter of a blackbody radiating at the temperature of solidification of platinum (2,046°K). Also called candle. See Table at measurement. [Latin candēla, candle; see candle.] |
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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
| can·dle
(kān'dl) Pronunciation Key
n.
tr.v. can·dled, can·dling, can·dles To examine (an egg) for freshness or fertility by holding it before a bright light. [Middle English candel, from Old English and from Anglo-Norman candele, both from Latin candēla, from candēre, to shine; see kand- in Indo-European roots.] can'dler n. |
(Download Now or Buy the Book)
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
candle
candle
O.E. candel, early church-word borrowing from L. candela "a light, torch," from candere "to shine," from PIE base *kand- "to glow, to shine, to shoot out light" (cf. Skt. cand- "to give light, shine," candra- "shining, glowing, moon;" Gk. kandaros "coal;" Welsh cann "white;" M.Ir. condud "fuel"). Candles were unknown in ancient Greece (where oil lamps sufficed), but common from early times among Romans and Etruscans. Candles on birthday cakes seems to have been originally a German custom. To hold a candle to originally meant "to help in a subordinate capacity." Candlemass, O.E. candelmæsse, is the feast of the purification of the Virgin Mary (Feb. 2), celebrated with many candles, corresponding to Celtic pagan Imbolc. To burn the candle at both ends is recorded from 1730.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This
| candle | |
noun | |
| 1. | stick of wax with a wick in the middle |
| 2. | the basic unit of luminous intensity adopted under the Systeme International d'Unites; equal to 1/60 of the luminous intensity per square centimeter of a black body radiating at the temperature of 2,046 degrees Kelvin |
verb | |
| 1. | examine eggs for freshness by holding them against a light |
WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Copyright © 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
American Heritage Stedman's Medical Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
candle can·dle (kān'dl)
n.
See candela.
The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Free On-line Dictionary of Computing - Cite This Source - Share This
Candle
Part of the Scorpion environment development system.
(1994-11-09)
The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing, © 1993-2007 Denis Howe
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
Candle
Can"dle\, n. [OE. candel, candel, AS, candel, fr. L. candela a (white) light made of wax or tallow, fr. cand["e]re to be white. See Candid, and cf. Chandler, Cannel, Kindle.]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. --Shak. 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. --Shak. 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.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
Candle
Heb. ner, Job 18:6; 29:3; Ps. 18:28; Prov. 24:20, in all which places the Revised Version and margin of Authorized Version have "lamp," by which the word is elsewhere frequently rendered. The Hebrew word denotes properly any kind of candle or lamp or torch. It is used as a figure of conscience (Prov. 20:27), of a Christian example (Matt. 5:14, 15), and of prosperity (Job 21:17; Prov. 13:9).
Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
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