candle

«candle» in Mova's school dictionary: a stick of wax with a string (a wick) in the middle that… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

noun (a candle, candles)

meaning for a pupil

1) A candle is a stick of wax with a string (a wick) in the middle that you light to give a small flame and light. tree →

2) Candles are used for light when the power is off, for birthday cakes, for celebrations and for nice smells. tree →

sense in the lessons

In science a candle shows burning: the flame melts the wax, and the wax vapour burns using oxygen from the air; if you cover the candle with a jar, the flame goes out when the oxygen is used up. In safety lessons candles are a fire risk: never leave one burning alone, keep it away from curtains, paper and hair, and blow it out before you sleep. Phrases: light a candle, blow out the candles, birthday candles, candlelight.

examples

• Make a wish and blow out the candles on your cake! tree →
• We lit candles when the power went off. tree →
• Never leave a candle burning in an empty room. tree →
• Keep candles away from curtains. tree →
• The candle went out when we put a jar over it. tree →
• There were ten candles on my birthday cake. tree →
• The wax dripped down the side of the candle. tree →
• We read a story by candlelight. tree →
• The candles were now lighted--what brightness! tree →

note

Countable: candles. The string is called the wick; the stick that holds the candle is a candlestick or candle holder. In maths problems about birthday cakes, the number of candles often equals the age. Battery candles are safer for small children.

In the corpora

• The anniversary of a death often brings the sadness back strongly; families may light a candle, visit the grave or share stories.
• She waits to see if she will shrink further, worried she might go out "like a candle".
• He is running about lighting lamps and candles: «What a capital little house this is!
• Put a jar over the candle and the flame soon dies, because it cannot get fresh oxygen.
• Trick birthday candles have a metal powder, magnesium, in the wick that catches fire again from the glowing wick.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «candle» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.