Corpse-candle definitions and example sentences on Wordnik

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But when he saw in the moonlight, though far off, a tiny white figure of a woman drifting on some strange current in a small boat, on the prow of which rested a faint light (to me it looked like a corpse-candle!), he thought it might be some person in distress, and began to cautiously edge towards it.

—The Lady of the Shroud

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Definitions (2)

American Heritage Dictionary

Century Dictionary (2)

A candle used at ceremonious watchings of a corpse before its interment, as at lich-wakes. Candles are set at the head and feet, and often one is set upon the corpse itself.
The will-o'-the-wisp, or ignis fatuus, a luminous exhalation which, when seen in a churchyard, is supposed to portend death, and to indicate by its course the direction the corpse-bearers will take. [Local, Eng.]

GNU Webster's 1913

WordNet

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Examples (12)

In England, it became known as the jack-o'-lantern or corpse-candle or will-o'-the-wisp, from "William with the wisp."
She is a comet that has a strange fancy only to come forth like a corpse-candle, and dance over men's graves. — Wisdom, Wit, and Pathos of Ouida Selected from the Works of Ouida
"Oh, a corpse-candle, or some nonsense of that sort, he had his mind running on, my lord. — The Channings
"My lord," spoke poor Jenkins, deprecatingly, "I never had such a thought within me as that it was a 'corpse-candle.' — The Channings
At last the poor Giacomo came, half undressed and holding a lantern in his hand -- he seemed terrified, and trembled so much that the lantern jogged up and down like a corpse-candle on a tomb. — Vendetta: a story of one forgotten