ˈcorpse-ˌcandle
[f. corpse n.]
† 1. ‘A thick candle used formerly at lake-wakes’ (Halliwell). Obs.
2. A lambent flame seen in a churchyard or over a grave, and superstitiously believed to appear as an omen of death, or to indicate the route of a coming funeral.
| 1694 R. Burthogge Reason 201 What will..[a] meer Somatist say to the Corps-Candles, or Dead Mens Lights, in Wales? 1696 Aubrey Misc. 231 Those fiery apparitions (Corps Candles) which do as it were mark out the way for corpses to their κοιµητηριον and sometimes before the parties themselves fall sick. 1825–7 Hone Every-day Bk. II. 1019 The exhalations in church-yards, called corpse candles, denoted coming funerals. 1876 Tennyson Harold iii. i, Corpse-candles gliding over nameless graves. |