friar's lantern
- noun
- /ˈfraɪərz ˈlæntərn/
- Archaic
:
luz de fraile
- Legends say that a friar's lantern can lead travelers astray in the foggy wetlands.
Examples
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As night fell on the moor, a friar's lantern flickered in the distance, puzzling the villagers.
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Some believe that a friar's lantern is simply methane gas igniting over the marsh.
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Look! That flickering light is definitely a friar's lantern!
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Wow! I just saw a friar's lantern!
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As night fell on the moor, a friar's lantern flickered in the distance, puzzling the villagers.
-
Legends say that a friar's lantern can lead travelers astray in the foggy wetlands.
-
Some believe that a friar's lantern is simply methane gas igniting over the marsh.
Synonyms
1
9.9
A pale flickering light that appears at night over marshes
1
9.9
A faint light from an old lamp that helps you see in the dark
A pale light seen at night over wet ground in old stories
A faint mysterious light that appears over wet ground at night
A small, strange light that appears over wet ground and may lead people the wrong way
A thing that seems close but cannot be reached
Surface Forms
Morphology
friar's + lantern
The word 'lantern' clearly signals a type of light, so a B1 learner who knows the constituents would likely infer the MWE refers to some kind of light. However, the folkloric/supernatural sense (will-o'-the-wisp; a pale flickering marsh light) and the possessive 'friar's' are culturally specific and not predictable from the parts alone, so the full meaning would not be reliably derivable without exposure.
Etymology
Friar's lantern may come from people long ago seeing a pale, flickering light on misty marshes and thinking it was a wandering monk's lamp, a friar carrying a lantern. So, the name stuck and today friar's lantern means that strange, ghost-like light seen over wet ground that people thought could lead travelers 'astray'.