▪ I. candy, n.1
(ˈkændɪ)
[a. F. candi in sucre candi; cf. It. zucchero candi (found, according to Littré, in an It. author of 1310), Sp. azucar cande, Pg. ass{uacu}car candi, med.L. saccharum candi; a. Arab., orig. Pers. qand sugar, the crystallized juice of the sugar-cane (whence Arab. qandah candy, qandī candied); of Indian origin, cf. Skr. khanda ‘piece’, also ‘sugar in crystalline pieces’, f. khand to break. As in the other langs., the full sugar candy (q.v.) appears much earlier than the simple candy.]
1. Crystallized sugar, made by repeated boiling and slow evaporation, more fully called sugar candy; also any confection made of, or incrusted with this. (In U.S. used more widely than in Great Britain, including toffee, and the like.)
| [c 1420 Liber Cocorum 7 With sugur candy thou may hit dowce. 1543 Traheron tr. Vigo's Chirurg. Interpr. Straunge Wds., A syrupe they calle sugre candie.] 1769 Mrs. Raffald Eng. Housekpr. (1778) 241 To a pound of double refined sugar put two spoonfuls of water, skim it well, and boil it almost to a candy, when it is cold, drain your plums out of the first syrup, and put them in the thick syrup. 1808–17 Foster in Life & Corr. (1846) I. lxxv. 410 Handing round candies and cowslip wine. 1844 Emerson Young Amer. Wks. (Bohn) II. 302 One man buys..a land title..and makes his posterity princes; and the other buys barley candy. 1850 Mrs. Stowe Uncle Tom's C. xiv. 124 With her hands full of candy, nuts, and oranges. 1865 Mrs. Whitney Gayworthys II. 44 The parson..approved only of white unflavoured candies for his children. |
2. Comb., as
candy-girl,
candy-merchant,
candy pink,
candy-shop,
candy-stall,
candy-store,
candy-woman;
candy-coloured,
candy-pale adjs.;
candy-braid (
U.S.), a twist of candy or toffee;
candy-broad sugar (
Sc.), ‘loaf or lump sugar’ (
Jam.);
candy butcher (see
butcher n. 3 b);
candy-floss [
floss2], a sweet confection, usually pink, of fluffy spun sugar; also in
transf. and
attrib. use as a type of meretriciousness;
candy-high a. or adv., to the point of candying or crystallizing; so
candy-height;
candy-man, an itinerant seller of candy; in the north of England, a bum-bailiff or process-server; so called because in the great strike of coal-miners in 1844, when a large number of extempore bailiffs were employed to eject the miners wholesale from the cottages, there were recognized among them some well-known sellers of ‘dandy candy’ from the Newcastle streets, whose appellation was transferred to persons employed in the unpopular office;
† candy-plate, an obsolete confection (see
plate);
candy-pull (
U.S.), a turn at pulling or twisting toffee to make it tough and light-coloured, a party of young people at which toffee is made (in Scotland a
taffy-join);
candy-stripe(d), pattern(ed) in alternate stripes of white and colour, as in a popular kind of candy;
candy-sugar = sugar-candy.
| 1870 Emerson Soc & Solit. Wks. vii. (Bohn) III. 64 Steam..can twist beams of iron like *candy-braids. |
| 1732 R. Maxwell Trans. Soc. Improv. Agric. 290 (Jam.) Three ounces of *candy-broad sugar. |
| 1888 G. M. Hopkins Poems (1918) 89 A *candycoloured..river. |
| 1951 Springfield Sunday Republican 6 May 29A (Advt.), Salt water taffy..pop corn—*candy floss. 1952 Times 2 Oct. 6/2 They could not solve problems of foreign policy on a diet of rhetorical candy floss. 1957 J. Frame Owls do Cry ii. xxii. 100 You won't get any ice creams or..candy-floss. 1957 R. Hoggart Uses of Literacy vii. 171 (heading) Invitations to a candy-floss world: the newer mass art. |
| 1855 M. M. Thompson Doesticks xxxiii. 299 With what an affectionate air couldst thou..box the ears of the little *candy-girl. |
| 1741 Compl. Fam. Piece i. i. 91 Boil it to a *Candy-height. 1769 Mrs. Raffald Eng. Housekpr. (1778) 247 When it begins to candy round the edge of your pan it is candy height. |
| 1750 E. Smith Compl. Housew. 200 Sugar made into a syrup, and boiled *candy-high. |
| 1863 Newcastle Chron. 31 Oct., The colliery carts and waggons stood at the doors and the furniture was handed out..It was evident that the ‘*candymen’ had warmed to their work. 1880 Patterson Antrim & Down Gloss. (E.D.S.) Candy-man, a rag-man. These men generally give a kind of toffee, called ‘candy’, in exchange for rags, etc. 1886 Leeds Merc. 13 Jan., A large body of police and thirty ‘candymen’ arrived at Medoursley Collieries, Consett, near Durham, yesterday, for the purpose of evicting sixty unionists. |
| 1870 ‘Fanny Fern’ Ginger-Snaps 61 To the delight of these youngsters and the *candy-merchants. |
| 1920 E. Sitwell Wooden Pegasus 48 As they Shelter the children, *candy-pale. |
| 1937 L. Bromfield Rains Came i. i. 15 He wore an enormous Rajput turban in shades of poison green and violet and *candy pink. |
| 1649 G. Daniel Trinarch., Hen. V, ccclxvi, Soe saue the Ipocras, and *Candy Plate. |
| 1887 Boston (Mass.) Jrnl. 20 Aug. 5/3 The candies suggest pleasant winter evenings, and ‘*candy pulls’ at the beach in summer. |
| 1845 Knickerbocker XXV. 424 *Candy-shop keepers. 1886 Harper's Mag. June 93/2 A considerable portion of the refined sugars find their way to the candy shops. |
| 1879 Sala in Daily Tel. 26 Dec., A very grand ‘*candy’ stall, overbrimming with those lollipops so irrepressibly dear to the American palate. |
| 1884 New York Her. 27 Oct. 7/6 Girl to learn to attend bakery, lunch room or *candy store. |
| 1894 ‘Mark Twain’ Pudd'nhead Wilson 234 The *candy-striped pole..indicated..the barber shop. 1939 M. B. Picken Lang. of Fashion 18/2 Candy stripe, stripe like those in stick candy. 1941 ‘R. West’ Black Lamb (1942) I. 497 His candy-striped pyjamas. 1959 Housewife June 100/1 Candy-striped sheets and pillowcases. |
| 1864 Louie's last Term 168 The *candy-woman..did not make any thing of the Dough-balls any how. |
¶ Candy in
mod. edd. of
Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, i. iii. 251: see
caudie.
▸
candy bar n. orig. and chiefly
N. Amer. a bar of chocolate or other confectionary.
| 1885 Fitchburg (Mass.) Daily Sentinel (Electronic text) 5 Jan. The big *candy bar that has been so much talked of for the past week was won by Charles Wallace. 2001 National Post (Toronto) 12 June m8/1 (advt.) The good stuff is always in the middle. Think candy bars. Or jelly donuts. |
▸
candy cane n. orig. U.S. a stick of striped rock with a hooked end, resembling a walking stick, and traditionally eaten (or used as a decoration) at Christmas.
| 1875 Wellsboro (Pa.) Agitator (Electronic text) 21 Dec. What roguish audacity has planted a *candy cane in papa's stocking, a candy slipper in mamma's! 2000 D. Harris Cute, Quaint, Hungry & Romantic 44 Families huddle around roaring fires sipping mulled apple cider while candles twinkle on trees festooned with candy canes. |
▸
candy pulling n. U.S. regional (now chiefly
hist.) a social gathering for young people at which confectionery is made and eaten;
cf. candy-pull n. at Compounds 2.
| 1834 New Eng. Mag. July 46 (heading) A Kentucky *candy pulling. 1897 Scribner's Mag. Dec. 762/2 We all drove over to Pinehollow last night to a candy-pulling. 1949 F. Gipson Hound-dog Man (1980) 4 Blackie packed his party clothes along wherever he went; he never could tell when he'd run onto a dance or a candy pulling. 2000 G. B. Holmes Time to Reconcile xi. 81 Mother let me go to a candy-pulling... After the boiling of the syrup and the pulling of the sweet mass into amber sticks of candy, [etc.]. |
▪ II. † ˈcandy, n.2 Obs. form of
Candia, name of an island (now Crete): used in some
obs. names of plants and products: also in candy-tuft.
| 1597 Gerard Herbal i. xxiv. 31 It grows in Creet, now called Candy. 1601 Holland Pliny II. 229 Touching the Candy Carot, it resembleth fennel. 1635 J. Taylor (Water P.) Parr in Harl. Misc. (Malh.) IV. 212 More sweet than candy oil. 1668 Wilkins Real Char. ii. iv. 89 Candy Alexander. 1750 Beawes Lex Mercat. (1752) 382 Oils, in Candy Barrels. |
▪ III. ‖ ˈcandy, n.3 [Mahr. khandi, Tamul and Mayal. kandi; in Pg. candil (Yule).] A weight used in southern and western India, varying greatly in different parts, but averaging 500 pounds av.
| 1618 Purchas Pilgr. I. 657 (Y.) The candee at this place [Batecola] containeth neere 500 pounds. 1862 Bright America, Sp. (1876) 101 Every Candy of cotton—a candy is 7 cwt. or lbs. 784—costing 80 rupees. 1875 Bedford Sailor's Pocket-bk. ix. (ed. 2) 323 The Maund 25 lbs., and the Candy 500 lbs. English av. |
▪ IV. candy, v. (
ˈkændɪ)
[f. candy n.1, after F. candir, It. candire to candy. The formation of the French vb. was prob. assisted by taking candi in sucre candi as a pa. pple. = candied: cf. It. zucchero candito.] 1. trans. To preserve (fruits, etc.) by boiling with sugar, which crystallizes and forms a crust; to coat or incrust with sugar. Also
absol.| 1533 Elyot Cast. Helth (1541) 72 a, Gynger..candyd with Sugar. a 1634 Randolph To Feltham 114 Neatly to candy o're the wholesome pill. 1741 Richardson Pamela (1824) I. 126 To pot and candy, and preserve for the uses of the family. c 1760 H. Glasse (title) Compleat Confectioner..Method of..Candying Fruit. 1866 Geo. Eliot F. Holt (1868) 24 If I've only got some orange flowers to candy. |
2. fig. To sweeten, render pleasant or palatable; to give a pleasant appearance to; to sugar
over.
| 1592 Conspir. Pretend. Ref. Pref. 2 To candie and sweeten them ouer with the louely shewe of peace. 1604 T. Wright Passions v. iv. 203 That which was canded with semblable pleasure. 1642 Fuller Holy & Prof. St. iv. xix. 337 His Teachers..candy over his sourest studies with pleasure. a 1658 Cleveland Gen. Poems (1677) 15 For shame you pretty Female Elves, Cease thus to candy up your selves. a 1734 North Examen 305 (D.) Thereby to candy them up to posterity. |
3. To form into crystals, congeal in a crystalline form:
a. sugar, honey, etc.;
b. (
transf.) other things resembling sugar, as salt, ice, etc.
| 1598 Sylvester Du Bartas i. ii. (1641) 14/1 Th' excessive cold of the mid-aire (anon) Candies-it [a dropping show'r] all in bals of Ycy-stone. 1601 Holland Pliny I. 362 As for sugar..the best comes out of India. A kind of hony it is, gathered and candied in certaine Canes. 1713 Lond. & Country Brew. ii. (1742) 110 The Sea-salt water candied or coagulated by the Sun. 1880 Print. Trades Jrnl. xxx. 37 Too much boiling candies the molasses. |
4. transf. To cover or incrust with crystalline substance, as hoar-frost, etc. Also
to candy over.
| 1607 Shakes. Timon iv. iii. 226 The cold Brooke Candied with ice. 1613 W. Browne Brit. Past. i. iv. (1772) I. 119 Hoary frosts had candy'd all the plaines. 1639 G. Daniel Ecclus. xliii. 44 Frost, sent as salt..and Plants are Candid ore. 1703 Burchett Naval Trans. iii. xix. (1720) 393 The Provisions sent to them were..candied with Salt. |
5. intr. To crystallize or congeal, to become incrusted with sugar.
| 1657 S. Purchas Theat. Pol. Flying-Ins. 209 The hony....of the new world, candies not, but is alwayes liquid like oyl. 1718 Quincey Compl. Disp. 34 After the Syrup comes to stand some time, it will candy. Mod. Preserves candy by long keeping. |