candlewaster en · NOUN
Etymology
From candle + waster.
Meanings
-
(derogatory, obsolete) One who consumes candles by staying up late reading and studying; a student.
Heart, was there ever so prosperous an invention thus unluckily perverted and spoiled by a whoreson book-worm, a candle-waster?
1600, Ben Jonson, Cynthia's Revels, act 3, scene 2:If such a one will smile and stroke his beard, / And, sorrow wag, cry 'hem!' when he should groan, / Patch grief with proverbs, make misfortune drunk / With candle-wasters—bring him yet to me, / And I of him will gather patience.
c. 1598–1599, William Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing, act 5, scene 1:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| candlewasters | Number=Plur | lexicographic | |
| candle-waster | alternative | lexicographic |