Meanings
- archaicuncountableArchaic form of candlelight.
Most of the colours called drabs appear to me the same by day-light and candle-light.
1794 October 31, John Dalton, “Extraordinary Facts Relating to the Vision of Colours: With Observations”, in Memoirs of the Literary and Philosophical Society of Manchester, volume V, part 1, Manchester: Printed by George Nicholson for Cadell and Davies, published 1798, →OCLC, page 365 more examples
O! it is divine and moſt admirable, and ſo farre beyond all that ever he publiſhed heretofore, as day-light beyond candle-light, or tinſell or leafe-gold above arſedine; […]
1596, Tho[mas] Nashe, “Dialogus”, in Haue with You to Saffron-Walden. Or, Gabriell Harveys Hunt is Up. […], London: […] John Danter, →OCLC; republished as J[ohn] P[ayne] C[ollier], editor, Have with You to Saffron-Walden (Miscellaneous Tracts; Temp. Eliz. and Jac. I), [London: s.n., 1870], →OCLC, page 44The fight of whom, though now decayd and mard, / And eke but hardly ſeene by candle-light, / Yet like a Diamond of rich regard, / In doubtfull ſhadow of the darkeſome night, / VVith ſtarrie beames about her ſhining bright, / Theſe marchants fixed eyes did ſo amaze, / That what through wonder, & what through delight, / A while on her they greedily did gaze, / And did her greatly like, and did her greatly praize.
1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book VI, Canto XI”, in The Faerie Queene. […], part II (books IV–VI), London: […] [Richard Field] for William Ponsonby, →OCLC, page 496Fifty a contemptible Age! Not at all, a very faſhionable Age I think—I aſſure you, I know very conſiderable Beaus, that ſet a good Face upon Fifty,. Fifty! I have ſeen Fifty in a ſide Box by Candle-light, out-bloſſom Five and Twenty.
1695, [William] Congreve, Love for Love: A Comedy. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, Act V, scene ii, pages 76–77The ſheets of brovvn paper being ſo thin acquired it ſooneſt, and vvhen beheld in candle-light they became beautifully ſpangled over by innumerable reflections from the ſmall cryſtals of hoar-froſt vvhich had parted from the air.
1780 April 20, Patrick Wilson, “XXVI. An Account of a Most Extraordinary Degree of Cold at Glasgow in January Last; together with Some New Experiments and Observations on the Comparative Temperature of Hoar-frost and the Air near to It, Made at the Macfarlane Observatory Belonging to the College. […]”, in Philosophical Transactions, of the Royal Society of London, volume LXX, part II, London: […] Lockyer Davis, and Peter Elmsly, printers to the Royal Society, →OCLC, page 469I am now finishing this letter by candle-light, with the help of a handkerchief tied over the shade.
1817, T. Munro, Life, i. 511
Cite this entry
candle-light. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/candle-light
“candle-light.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/candle-light. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “candle-light,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/candle-light.
Source: candle-light on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.