Roman-candle
English
[edit]Alternative forms
[edit]Etymology
[edit]A verbal form of Roman candle.
Verb
[edit]Roman-candle (third-person singular simple present Roman-candles, present participle Roman-candling, simple past and past participle Roman-candled)
- (figuratively, intransitive) To move from or spin away in the manner of a Roman candle.
- 1990, Michael Asher, Shoot to Kill: A Soldier's Journey Through Violence, page 189:
- His canopy had snagged on the tailplane of the aircraft, causing him to Roman-candle into the rocky desert ground.
- 2005, Alec Brew, Aircraft Down: Forced Landings, Crash Landings and Rescues:
- Luckily, the seat parted company enough for his parachute to Roman-candle, and almost immediately he crashed through a tree.
- 2014, Christopher Buckley, But Enough About You: Essays, page 428:
- Ronald Reagan went on TV hours after the space shuttle Challenger tragically Roman-candled over Florida and said, "The future doesn't belong to the fainthearted; it belongs to the brave."
- (figuratively, intransitive) To achieve or attain fame or success quickly and rapidly.
- 1956, Variety, volume 201, number 5, page 100:
- […] Roman candled to fame in Gertrude Lawrence's legit musical, "Lady In The Dark," which put Freud in grease-paint.
- 1965 March 6, “WPIX Show Will Host Coast Artists”, in Billboard, volume 77, number 10, page 48:
- Murry (the K) Kaufman, whose seven-year "Swingin' Soiree" Roman-candled Saturday (27), has taped a pilot for the station.
- (figuratively, transitive) To light up with excitement that lacks of focus or direction.
- 1974, Holiday, page 30:
- Despite the severe shortage of goose-bump manufacturers of late in our jaded, weary world, music never fails to roman-candle the spine.
- 1983, Tony Kornheiser, The Baby Chase, page 124:
- I was Roman candling with less frequency; the more accustomed to the chase I became, the less manic I acted.
- 2009, Julie Anne Long, Like No Other Lover:, page 6:
- And then absurd notions roman-candled in his mind.