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rushlight

rushlight

9.9
A thin candle made from the dried stem of a water plant soaked in animal fat for light
  • noun
  • Archaic
translation icon : luz de juncos
  • The rushlight flickered in the dark room.

Examples

  • The room was growing dark, so the woman left a rushlight in a saucer on the floor before shutting the door softly behind her.

  • The old cottage was lit only by a single rushlight on the table.

  • By the dim glow of a rushlight, she read her letter late into the night.

  • He recalled evenings spent working by rushlight before the advent of gas lamps.

  • She lit a rushlight to read her book.

  • I busied myself snuffing the rushlight, willing my face to remain impassive.

  • He sat with a tableau on his lap and his riding boots on my desk, sketching with charcoal by the dim rushlight.

Synonyms

candle
vsrushlight
451 1.0

A stick or block of wax with a wick that you burn for light

is made by soaking dried plant pith in tallow rather than a wax block
taper
vsrushlight
3 6.3

A long thin candle used for light

is made from plant pith soaked in tallow not a wax stick
dip
vsrushlight
1 7.4

A candle made by putting a wick into wax many times

is made by soaking dried plant pith rather than layering wax by dipping
rush candle
vsrushlight
  • Archaic
9.9

A candle that uses a plant stem as the wick and animal fat to make light

is made by soaking dried plant pith in tallow instead of coating a stem

How Bright

torch
43 1.0
lantern
113 1.0
oil lamp
7 4.1
candle
451 1.0
rushlight
  • Archaic
9.9

Surface Forms

rushlight singular
rushlights plural

Morphology

rushlight = rush + light (semi-transparent) = rush + light

The components 'rush' + 'light' literally describe a lamp made from a rush, but the specific historical object is specialized and possibly unfamiliar to learners.

Etymology

The word rushlight comes from the plant rush ('a reed') and the word light ('a flame'). People soaked the dried inner part of a rush in fat to make a thin candle, so a rushlight was literally a 'rush' that gave 'light'.