Register Log In Wordsmith Talk Forums (Old) Weekly themes. (have been consolidated into a single forum above) Meta-words guttering Search Advanced Forum Search Forums Calendar Active Threads

Previous Thread Next Thread Print Thread guttering #112559 09/22/2003 12:47 PM Joined: Jan 2001 Posts: 13,858 wwh Carpal Tunnel wwh Carpal Tunnel Joined: Jan 2001 Posts: 13,858 "A great dog sat on his tail and stared into the fire. A few children mingled in this orgy. The stolen child wept and wailed; another, a bouncing boy of four, was seated with dangling legs on too high a bench, the table reaching just to his chin, and said not a word; a third was engaged in spreading over the table with his fingers the tallow from a GUTTERING candle. Guttering here means the candle has too much melted wax, not hot enough to burn readily, so that flame repeatedly goes out, lights again, smokes a lot. I wonder what the etymology is. Copy Link to Clipboard Share Post on Facebook Share Post on Twitter Re: guttering #112560 09/22/2003 1:41 PM Joined: Dec 2000 Posts: 13,803 Faldage Carpal Tunnel Faldage Carpal Tunnel Joined: Dec 2000 Posts: 13,803 This is an interesting one. The word is the same as the gutter at the edge of a street for carrying off excess water. The primary definition of the intrasitive verb is to flow in channels or rivulets. The first sense as applied to candles is that of breaking through the edge of the cup that can form in a candle that is a little too wide for its wick. The derived meaning of alternately burning brightly and dimly would be from the fact that the wick would burn less brightly as it became more deeply immersed in liquid wax and more brightly as the wax level decreased when the edge was breached. The word came into Middle English through Old French from the Latin gutta, drop. http://www.bartleby.com/61/29/G0322900.html Copy Link to Clipboard Share Post on Facebook Share Post on Twitter Moderated by  Jackie  Hop To General Topics ------  Information and announcements  Q&A about words  Wordplay and fun  Words and languages in schools  Miscellany  Weekly Themes  Looking for (writers, speakers,... (Old) Weekly themes. (have been... ------  Words from medicine  Beheading words  Meta-words  Words from classical mythology  Animal Safari  Words with unusual etymologies  Eponyms or words derived from p...  Loanwords from German  English as a global language Print Thread Switch to Threaded Mode Show Likes Link Copied to Clipboard View Profile Private Message Follow User Forum Posts Like Summary View Profile Private Message Website Follow User Forum Posts Like Summary

Default Style BlackNTan Drab eBay GooG v2 infopop new dark new light original dark original stock rounded corners Slate snow sunny dropshadow theblues Touch Of Grey UBB.threads UBB.threads - Dark UBB.threads - Light UBBCentral UBBCentral - Crimson UBBCentral - Lime UBBCentral - Marshmallow UBBCentral - Mocha UBBCentral - Zen UBBT77 UBBT77 - Dark ubbthreads ubbthreads-dark Forum Rules · Mark All Read Contact Us · Forum Help · Wordsmith Talk