Wiktionary
vb. (context idiomatic English) To compare; to be even remotely of the same quality, skill, etc. as another.
Usage examples of "hold a candle".
None of the ladies he knew could hold a candle to the young woman sitting beside him.
Now they were in town, and he could see that she didn't fit within his elegant world, couldn't hold a candle to the exquisitely arrayed beauties he was accustomed to consorting with, she would not try to hold on to him.
Anyway, twenty-year-old vileness, whatever it had been, certainly could not hold a candle to what the world confronted now.
Once he had found a stash of old porno mags from predark days, and none of those ancient beauties could hold a candle to the fiery redhead.
It couldn't hold a candle to the Wrigley Building, especially at night when it was all lit up like an octogenarian's birthday cake.
As I have earlier said, this is an age of specialization, and none of the worker types I meet have adequately applied themselves to be able to hold a candle to me in my particular field of endeavor.
Moors, Jews, Armenians, Turks, Greeks, or eke Spaniards, none of them can hold a candle to these overshrewd, ever-grasping, devil-spawn Italians.
Couldn't hold a candle to Jake, of course, but, all in all, he wasn't bad.
Even if it had any power to make my life miserable, it couldn't hold a candle to the rest of this week.
Having his speech written in loose leaves, and being compelled to hold a candle in the other hand, he would let the loose leaves drop to the floor one by one.
Clients have persuaded me, however, that it doesn't hold a candle to a mate showing you disrespect or aiming cheap shots at you in the presence of others.