courting candle
A coil-shaped candle, or a cylindrical candle placed inside of a spiral metal…A coil-shaped candle, or a cylindrical candle placed inside of a spiral metal candleholder, historically used to limit the length of a suitor's visit during courtship. When the candle burned down to a certain adjustable point, it signaled that the suitor’s time was up and they were expected to leave.
Meaning
1 sensesA coil-shaped candle, or a cylindrical candle placed inside of a spiral metal candleholder, historically used to limit the length of a suitor's visit during courtship. When the candle burned down to a certain adjustable point, it signaled that the suitor’s time was up and they were expected to leave.
Forms
plural: courting candles| Singular | courting candle |
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| Plural | courting candles |
regular
See also
neighbours in the dictionaryDictionary text adapted from Wiktionary (Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet / Princeton WordNet (CC BY 4.0, WordNet License); shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Example sentences and recordings are credited where they appear.