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candle

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candle

Cylinder of wax (such as tallow or paraffin wax) with a central wick of string. A flame applied to the end of the wick melts the wax, which burns and produces a luminous flame. The wick is treated with a substance such as alum so that it carbonizes but does not rapidly burn out.

Candles and oil lamps were an early form of artificial lighting. Accurately made candles - which burned at a steady rate - were calibrated along their lengths and used as a type of clock. The candle was also the name of a unit of luminous intensity, replaced in 1940 by the candela (cd), equal to 1/60 of the luminance of 1 sq cm of a black body radiator at a temperature of 2,042 K (the temperature of solidification of platinum).



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? Mentioned in ? References in classic literature
 
Inside it was dark, but the man who had unlocked the door produced a candle and matches and made a light.
Can Such Things Be? by Bierce, Ambrose View in context
The room was dark, but having matches I found a candle and lit it.
Present At A Hanging And Other Ghost Stories by Bierce, Ambrose View in context
From these, in a narrow and a dirty street devoted to such callings, Mr Wegg selects one dark shop-window with a tallow candle dimly burning in it, surrounded by a muddle of objects vaguely resembling pieces of leather and dry stick, but among which nothing is resolvable into anything distinct, save the candle itself in its old tin candlestick, and two preserved frogs fighting a small- sword duel.
Our Mutual Friend by Dickens, Charles View in context
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