What does "rushlight" mean?

A type of inexpensive candle formed by soaking the dried pith of the rush plant in fat or grease, which emits light for a relatively short period of time.

What is a synonym for "rushlight"?

Common synonyms include: candle, dip, lamp, light source, nonentity, rush candle.

Rushlight

noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1
A type of inexpensive candle formed by soaking the dried pith of the rush plant in fat or grease, which emits light for a relatively short period of time. historical
"The rushlight was her friend, and aided her to pass the long, long hours before midnight, for it was enclosed within its accustomed tin cage; […]"
2
a tallow candle with a rush stem as the wick wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

candle dip lamp light source nonentity rush candle

Example

More examples

"The rushlight was her friend, and aided her to pass the long, long hours before midnight, for it was enclosed within its accustomed tin cage; […]"

Etymology

From rush + light.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.