roman-candle

present singular third person roman-candles · participle present roman-candling · participle past roman-candled · past roman-candled

1. alternativeAlternative form of Roman-candle.

   Their parachutes collapsed and together they roman-candled into the ground.

   2007, Michael Abrams, Birdmen, Batmen, and Skyflyers

   2 more examples

   In 1943 when Dad was at school in Shropshire, he saw two US planes collide, one pilot managed to bail out but unfortunately he roman-candled with the school children watching it.

   2011, Tim Ramsden, Backpacking Beyond Boundaries: A South African's Travels

   One of the paratrooper's 'chutes had roman-candled – failed to open – and he had plunged into the ground only fifty yards from where we were standing.

   2017, John Goldsmith, Accidental Agent: Behind Enemy Lines with the French Resistance

present singular third person Roman-candles · participle present Roman-candling · participle past Roman-candled · past Roman-candled · alternative Roman candle · alternative roman-candle · alternative roman candle · alternative Roman Candle

1. figurativelyintransitiveTo move from or spin away in the manner of a Roman candle.

   His canopy had snagged on the tailplane of the aircraft, causing him to Roman-candle into the rocky desert ground.

   1990, Michael Asher, Shoot to Kill: A Soldier's Journey Through Violence, page 189

   2 more examples

   Luckily, the seat parted company enough for his parachute to Roman-candle, and almost immediately he crashed through a tree.

   2005, Alec Brew, Aircraft Down: Forced Landings, Crash Landings and Rescues

   Ronald Reagan went on TV hours after the space shuttle Challenger tragically Roman-candled over Florida and said, "The future doesn't belong to the fainthearted; it belongs to the brave."

   2014, Christopher Buckley, But Enough About You: Essays, page 428

2. figurativelyintransitiveTo achieve or attain fame or success quickly and rapidly.

   […] Roman candled to fame in Gertrude Lawrence's legit musical, "Lady In The Dark," which put Freud in grease-paint.

   1956, Variety, volume 201, number 5, page 100

   1 more example

   Murry (the K) Kaufman, whose seven-year "Swingin' Soiree" Roman-candled Saturday (27), has taped a pilot for the station.

   1965 March 6, “WPIX Show Will Host Coast Artists”, in Billboard, volume 77, number 10, page 48

3. figurativelytransitiveTo light up with excitement that lacks of focus or direction.

   And then absurd notions roman-candled in his mind.

   2009, Julie Anne Long, Like No Other Lover:, page 6

   2 more examples

   Despite the severe shortage of goose-bump manufacturers of late in our jaded, weary world, music never fails to roman-candle the spine.

   1974, Holiday, page 30

   I was Roman candling with less frequency; the more accustomed to the chase I became, the less manic I acted.

   1983, Tony Kornheiser, The Baby Chase, page 124