Crossword clues for rushlight
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Rushlight \Rush"light`\, n. A rush candle, or its light; hence, a small, feeble light.
Wiktionary
n. a type of inexpensive candle, historically used, formed by soaking the dried pith of the rush plant in fat or grease, which emits light for a relatively short period of time.
WordNet
n. a tallow candle with a rush stem as the wick [syn: rush candle]
Wikipedia
A rushlight is a type of candle or miniature torch formed by soaking the dried pith of the rush plant in fat or grease. For several centuries rushlights were a common source of artificial light for poor people throughout the British Isles. They were extremely inexpensive to make. English essayist William Cobbett wrote, "This rushlight cost almost nothing to produce and was believed to give a better light than some poorly dipped candles."
One of the earliest printed descriptions of rushlights was written by English antiquary John Aubrey in 1673. Rev. Gilbert White gave a detailed description of rushlight making in The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne, Letter XXVI (1789).
Rushlights were still used in rural England to the end of the 19th century, and they had a temporary revival during World War II. In parts of Wales the use of rushlights continued into the middle of the 20th century.
It is not clear whether rushlights were ever popular in the United States and Canada. Antique rushlight holders are occasionally found in North America, but most were probably imported from England; "none are known to bear the mark of an American smith." In New England, "rushlights were used little if at all in colonial days."
Rushlights should not be confused with rush-candles. A rush-candle is an ordinary candle (a block or cylinder of tallow or wax) that uses a piece of rush as a wick. Rushlights, by contrast, are strips of plant fiber impregnated with tallow or grease. The wick is not separate from the fuel in a rushlight.
Usage examples of "rushlight".
Rosie lit two rushlights and by the light of these would work on at her ironing table till Pierpoint came home and they had their supper of whelks and oysters and bread and ale.
It was later than I had realised, for the sun was dipping behind the irregular serrulations of Whitehall Palace, and here and there among the buildings a few rushlights had begun to flicker.
She took the little package, which was wrapped in a piece of blue silk, from her purse and put it on her pillow while she said her prayers in the dim glimmer of the rushlight, and then, wrapping her nightrail about her and shivering in the unheated room, she tunnelled under the blankets and unwrapped the fabric with some excitement, for she had received few gifts in her life.
The false Nonnus was passing out rushlights, pithy reed stems soaked in wax and ignited.
Ascelei silhouetted against the rushlights the servants behind him held.
Light came through the kitchen windows and glimmered from the inn yard where men with rushlights completed the business of the day.
Cathan scratching away on his copies at a small table on the other side of the room, and that the rushlights burned nearly until dawn.
The young knight had taken up a candlestick from the mantel and was lighting it from one of the rushlights set on the table in the center of the room, obviously thinking in terms of the king being ready to retire.
Brilliantly lit by hundreds of rushlights, the hall was warm, the atmosphere most conducive to romance.
The Knight shook his head with a faint smile, but for all that, Robin's words made him more blithe of heart, for in truth hope, be it never so faint, bringeth a gleam into darkness, like a little rushlight that costeth but a groat.
The rays of his rushlight fell across the cave, upon a closed pair of enormous doors.
Supporting himself on feet braced on opposite sides of the diminished shaft, Rolf freed his hands and struck fire to a rushlight.
It was later than I had realised, for the sun was dipping behind the irregular serrulations of Whitehall Palace, and here and there among the buildings a few rushlights had begun to flicker.
River island half-moon rushlighted window reflection black water cypresses live oaks cinnamons log house jetty clinkerbuilt dory crocodile fence silvered garden plot thorn-guarded yard thatch roof stick chimney.
She lit the rushlights, too, and the fat tallow candle in the niche of the statue of St.