candle

From Middle English candel, from Old English candel (“candle”), borrowed from Latin candēla (“candle”), from Latin candeō (“be white, bright, shining”, verb); see candid. Doublet of candela and chandelle.

• (General American, Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈkændəl/, /ˈkændl̩/

• Audio (US)

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• Rhymes: -ændəl

candle (plural candles)

1. A light source consisting of a wick embedded in a solid, flammable substance such as wax, tallow, or paraffin.

   light a candle

   blow out the candles on the birthday cake

   snuff out the candle

2. The protruding, removable portion of a filter, particularly a water filter.
3. (obsolete) A unit of luminous intensity, now replaced by the SI unit candela.
4. (forestry) A fast-growing, light-colored, upward-growing shoot on a pine tree in the spring. As growth slows in summer, the shoot darkens and is no longer conspicuous.

• Sranan Tongo: kandra
• → Chichewa: kandulo

candle (third-person singular simple present candles, present participle candling, simple past and past participle candled)

1. (embryology, transitive) To observe the growth of an embryo inside (an egg), using a bright light source.
2. (pottery, transitive) To dry (greenware) prior to the firing cycle, setting the kiln at 200° Celsius until all water is removed from the greenware.
3. (transitive) To check (an item, such as an envelope) by holding it between a light source and the eye.

• “candle”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “candle”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

• Declan, calend, lanced