Bobeche
Archive
Week seventy-one: BOBECHE (probability 30943), by David Sutton
A BOBECHE is a circular wax catcher, normally made of glass, that fits over a candle, to stop the hot wax dripping on to a polished table, for example. The word is French. The less sophisticated English probably made do with a saucer.
Other words associated with candles include CANSTICK, a Shakespearean word for candlestick, CERGE or CIERGE, a large wax candle used in religous rites, BOUGIE, a wax candle which also gave its name to a flexible medical instrument for insertion into body passages, DOUTER, an extinguisher for candles, FAROLITO, a votive candle offered in churches, KINARA, an African candle-holder, PRICKET, a small point or spike for holding a candle upright, SNASTE, a dialect word for the wick or snuff of a candle, and TRICERION, a three-branched candlestick.