fetch candle

1 definition found

fetch candle - Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 :

  Fetch \Fetch\, n.
     1. A stratagem by which a thing is indirectly brought to
        pass, or by which one thing seems intended and another is
        done; a trick; an artifice.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Every little fetch of wit and criticism. --South.
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     2. The apparation of a living person; a wraith.
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              The very fetch and ghost of Mrs. Gamp. --Dickens.
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     3. The unobstructed region of the ocean over which the wind
        blows to generate waves.
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     4. Hence: The length of such a region.
        [RDH]
  
     Fetch candle, a light seen at night, superstitiously
        believed to portend a person's death.
        [1913 Webster]