Emily Dickinson Lexicon

CAN'CRITE, n. [from cancer.]

A fossil or petrified crab. – Fourcroy.

CAN-DE-LA'BRUM, n. [L.]

A candle-stick with branches.

CAN'DENT, a. [L. candens, from candeo, to be white or hot. See the verb, to cant.]

Very hot; heated to whiteness; glowing with heat.

CAN'DI-CANT, a.

Growing white. – Dict.

CAN'DID, a. [L. candidus, white, from candeo, to be white; W. canu, to bleach. See Cant.]

1. White. – Dryden. [But in this sense rarely used.]
2. Fair; open; frank; ingenuous; free from undue bias; disposed to think and judge according to truth and justice, or without partiality or prejudice; applied to persons.
3. Fair; just; impartial; applied to things; as, a candid view, or construction.

CAN'DI-DATE, n. [L. candidatus, from candidus, white; those who sought offices in Rome being obliged to wear a white gown.]

1. A man who seeks or aspires to an office; one who offers himself, or is proposed for preferment, by election or appointment; usually followed by for; as, a candidate for the office of sherif.
2. One who is in contemplation for an office, or for preferment, by those who have power to elect or appoint, though he does not offer himself.
3. One who, by his services or actions, will or may justly obtain preferment or reward, or whose conduct tends to secure it; as, a candidate for praise.
4. A man who is qualified, according to the rules of the church, to preach the gospel, and take the charge of a parish or religious society, and proposes to settle in the ministry. – United States.
5. One who is in a state of trial or probation for a reward, in another life; as, a candidate for heaven or for eternity.

CAN'DID-LY, adv.

Openly; frankly; without trick or disguise; ingenuously.

CAN'DID-NESS, n.

Openness of mind; frankness; fairness; ingenuousness.

CAN'DI-ED, pp. [or a. from candy.]

Preserved with sugar, or incrusted with it; covered with crystals of sugar or ice, or with matter resembling them; as, candied raisins.

CAN'DI-FY, v.t. [or v. i.]

To make or become white, or candid.

CAN'DLE, n. [L. Sp. and It. candela; Fr. chandelle; Sax. candel; Pers. kandil; Arm. cantol; W. canwyll, Ir. cainneal; from L. candeo, to shine, to be white, or its root. The primary sense of the root is, to shoot, to throw, to radiate. See Cant and Chant.]

1. A long, but small cylindrical body of tallow, wax or spermaceti, formed on a wick composed of linen or cotton threads, twisted loosely, used for a portable light of domestic use.
2. A light.
3. A light; a luminary. In Scripture, the candle of the Lord is the divine favor and blessing, Job xxix. 3; or the conscience or understanding. – Prov. xx. 27. Excommunication by inch of candle, is when the offender is allowed time to repent, while a candle burns, and is then excommunicated. Sale by inch of candle, is an auction in which persons are allowed to bid, only till a small piece of candle burns out. Medicated candle, in medicine, a bougie. Rush-candles are used in some countries; they are made of the pitch of certain rushes, peeled except on one side, and, dipped in grease. – Encyc.

CAN'DLE-BER-RY-TREE, n.

The Myrica cerifera, or wax-bearing myrtle; a shrub common in North America, from the berries of which a kind of wax or oil is procured, of which candles are made. The oil is obtained by boiling the berries in water; the oil rising to the surface is skimmed off, and when cool, is of the consistence of wax, and of a dull green color. In popular language, this is called bay-berry tallow.

CAN'DLE-BOMB, n.

A small glass bubble, filled with water, placed in the wick of a candle, where it bursts with a report.

CAN'DLE-HOLD-ER, n. [candle and hold.]

A person that holds a candle. Hence, one that remotely assists another, but is otherwise not of importance. – Shak.

CAN'DLE-LIGHT, n. [candle and light.]

The light of a candle; the necessary candles for use. – Molineux.

CAN'DLE-MAS, n. [candle and mass, Sax. mæssa; candle-feast.]

The feast of the church celebrated on the second day of February in honor of the purification of the Virgin Mary; so called from the great number of lights used on that occasion. This feast is supposed to have originated in the declaration of Simeon, that our Savior was “to be a light to lighten the Gentiles.” On this day, the Catholics consecrate all the candles and tapers which are to be used in their churches during the whole year. In Rome, the pope performs the ceremony himself, and distributes wax candles to the cardinals and others, who carry them in procession through the great hall of the pope's palace. The ceremony was prohibited in England by an order of council in 1548. But Candlemas is one of the four terms for paying and receiving rents and interest; and it gives name to a law term, beginning Jan. 15, and ending Feb. 3. – Encyc.

CAN'DLES-ENDS, n.

Scraps; fragments. – Beaum.

CAN'DLE-STICK, n. [candle and stick; Sax. candel-sticca.]

An instrument or utensil to hold a candle, made in different forms and of different materials; originally a stick or piece of wood.

CAN'DLE-STUFF, n. [candle and stuff.]

A material of which candles are made, as tallow, wax, &c. – Bacon.

CAN'DLE-WAS-TER, n. [candle and waste.]

One who wastes or consumes candles; a hard student, or one who studies by candle-light; a spendthrift. – B. Jonson. Shak.

CAN'DLE-WICK, n.

The wick for candles.

CAN'DOC, n.

A plant or weed that grows in rivers. – Walton.

CAN'DOR, n. [L. candor, from candeo, to be white.]

Openness of heart; frankness; ingenuousness of mind; a disposition to treat subjects with fairness; freedom from tricks or disguise; sincerity. – Watts.

CAN'DY, n.

1. A species of confectionery, or compound of sugar with some other substance, as sugar candy, melasses candy, &c.
2. In Bombay, a weight of 560 pounds.

CAN'DY, v.i.

To form into crystals, or become congealed; to take on the form of candied sugar.