rush candle

American  

noun

1. a candle made from a dried, partly peeled rush that has been dipped in grease.

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Etymology

Origin of rush candle

First recorded in 1585–95

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

rush candle

The two men did not recognize each other, for they had only met for a moment, and that by the faint light of a rush candle.

From La Vendée by Trollope, Anthony

Light is, or used to be, given by a “lamp,” a kind of Chinese lantern on a lacquer stand, the light being given by a rush candle.

From The Empire of the East by Montgomery, H. B. (Helen Barrett)

The radiance of sunlight might well have been less than the blaze of a rush candle before the staggering brilliancy.

From The Golden Woman A Story of the Montana Hills by Cullum, Ridgwell

After a satisfactory answer, the door was slowly and cautiously opened, and the figure of a wrinkled, half-famished, and half-naked beldam appeared, shading a rush candle with one hand.

From Visits and Sketches at Home and Abroad with Tales and Miscellanies Now First Collected Vol. III (of 3) by Jameson, Mrs. (Anna)

Before the first streak of dawn on that tardy, northern morning, Ridley’s ponderous step came up the stair, into the feeble light of the rush candle which the watchers tried to shelter from the draughts.

From Grisly Grisell by Yonge, Charlotte Mary