a person who makes or sells candles and sometimes other items of tallow or wax, as soap.
a dealer or trader in supplies, provisions, etc., of a specialized type.
a ship chandler.
a retailer of provisions, groceries, etc.
Charles Frederick, 1836–1925, U.S. scientist, educator, and public-health expert.
Raymond (Thornton), 1888–1959, U.S. writer of detective novels.
a town in central Arizona.
a dealer in a specified trade or merchandise
corn chandler
ship's chandler
a person who makes or sells candles
obsolete a retailer of grocery provisions; shopkeeper
1275–1325; Middle English chandeler candlestick, maker or seller of candles < Anglo-French, Old French chandelier, literally, someone or something connected with candles, equivalent to chandelle candle + -ier -ier 2
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
There he would join five or six fellow Greeks some of whom lived in the area, among them Alexanderos Callinicos, a local ship chandler.
From BBC ● Apr. 11, 2016
“Nothing is going to flow until this court case is resolved,” said Mark Usinger, a Portland ship chandler who for years has delivered supplies to the oil tankers.
From Washington Times ● Mar. 8, 2016
But the flow dropped to zero in January, according to state data, and a ship chandler in Portland says the pipeline had no tanker deliveries in February.
From Washington Times ● Mar. 8, 2016
My Great Uncle Emlyn, a keen Methodist, had a job in Smithfield meat market collecting unwanted offcuts to deliver to the tallow chandler.
From The Guardian ● Jun. 25, 2012
What ship chandler would not think of making a little extra money under the noble guise of saving lives?
From "Life of Pi" by Yann Martel
He sued the owners of the adjacent properties, one of whom, Zachariah Chandler, happened to be the mayor.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 18, 2026
In many places, their construction and upkeep are devolved onto private owners like negligent Mayor Chandler, who are also sometimes liable if someone gets hurt.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 18, 2026
On-screen footage shows UFC fighter Michael Chandler explaining to an FBI agent how to neutralize an armed assailant with hand-to-hand combat.
From Slate ● Jun. 16, 2026
UFC combatant Michael Chandler, who is fighting on Sunday, said it was the "biggest fight event in combat sports history."
From Barron's ● Jun. 14, 2026
It helped that his father hated Chandler, still smarting from a row years before.
From "The Underground Railroad: A Novel" by Colson Whitehead
The duo had originally envisaged their project as a way to revive specific arts-and-crafts traditions, sourcing lacemakers, glass blowers and chandlers from Vienna to Milan to their native Cairo.
From New York Times ● May 13, 2022
Harbor Ship Supply is among the shrinking ranks of ship chandlers, a name that derives from the French word for candles, once a key item onboard ship.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 14, 2022
“It was not only the merchants trading in enslaved human beings who profited but barrel-makers, brothel-keepers, chandlers, candle-makers, carpenters, dockworkers, inn-keepers, laundresses, sailors, sail-makers and shoemakers,” Carby writes.
From The New Yorker ● Oct. 9, 2019
Huston even sourced original harpoons from the long-forgotten lofts of ship chandlers who’d worked in the Yorkshire whaling port of Hull.
From The Guardian ● Dec. 6, 2015
“If I forbid them to carve stone or lay bricks, the chandlers, the weavers, and the goldsmiths will soon be at my gates asking that they be excluded from those trades as well.”
From "A Dance with Dragons" by George R. R. Martin
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
