Forms: 4–7 chaundeler, 5–7 chandeler, 6–7 chaundler, 6– chandler; (also 5 condler, candeler(e, chaundeller, chaundlar, chawndelere, 6 chandelar, -ellor, -illar, 7 chaundelor, -our, 8 Sc. chanler). [ME. chaundeler, chandeler, a. AF. chandeler, OF. chandelier (= Pr. candelier, It. candelliere):—L. type candel(l)ārius, f. candel(l)a CANDLE.]
† 1. A stand or support for a candle, a candlestick; a chandelier. (Chiefly northern, now Obs.)
c. 1325. E. E. Allit. P., B. 1272. Þe chef chaundeler charged with þe lyȝt.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., VI. xxiv. Candelis and oþer priketis beþ set on candelstikkis, and chaundelers.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 60. Candelere, candelabra.
1549. Compl. Scot., ix. 75–6. He … reft the goldin alter, the chandelaris of lycht, and al the goldin veschel.
1552–3. Inv. Ch. Goods Staffs., in Ann. Lichfield, IV. 50. Ij chaundlers of woode.
1674. Ray, N.-C. Wds., Chaundler, a candlestick. Sheffield.
1733. Ramsay, Clout the Caldron, i. Have you any pots or pans Or any broken chandlers?
2. One whose trade it is to make or sell candles. (Also TALLOW-CHANDLER, WAX-CHANDLER.)
1389. E. E. Gilds (1870), 18. Yei shul bene at ye Chaundelers by pryme of ye day.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 1596. Cokes, condlers, coriours of ledur.
1464. Mann. & Househ. Exp. (1841), 160. To pay the chandeler that ffynd my lordys candyllis, xx.s.
1483. Cath. Angl., 52. A Candeler, candelarius.
1596. Shaks., 1 Hen. IV., III. iii. 52. But the Sack that thou hast drunke me, would haue bought me Lights as good cheape, as the dearest Chandlers in Europe.
1602. Return fr. Parnass., Prol. (Arb.), 4. We haue promised the Copies to the Chandlers to wrappe his candles in.
1711. Act 10 Anne, in Lond. Gaz., 5031/6. Such Chandler or Maker of Candles.
1872. J. Yeats, Hist. Comm., 269. The present number of chandlers in England is estimated at about 3,000.
† b. Formerly, an officer who superintended the supply of candles, etc., in a household.
c. 1450. Bk. Curtasye, 824, in Babees Bk., 326. Now speke I wylle a lytulle whyle Of þo chandeler, with-outen gyle.
1601. F. Tate, Househ. Ord. Edw. II., § 15. The serjant chaundeler shal receve the wax and lights … And the chaundelor shal make his liveree.
1860. Our Eng. Home, 89.
3. In extended sense: a. A retail dealer in provisions, groceries, etc.: often somewhat contemptuous. b. in comb. = dealer, trader, as in CORN-CHANDLER, SHIP-CHANDLER.
1583. Stubbes, Anat. Abus., II. 49. Theod. Be there any Chandlers there?… What do they sell for the most part? Amphil. Almost all things, as namelie butter, cheese, fagots, pots, pannes, candles, and a thousand other trinkets besides.
1664. Etheredge, Love in Tub, I. ii. (1723), 13. This morning the Chandler refus’d to score a quart of Scurvy-grass.
1723. Lond. Gaz., No. 6172/9. Robert Collier … Chandler of Small Wares.
1820. Scott, Monast., Answ. Introd. Ep., Another steps into a chandler’s shop, to purchase a pound of butter.
1836. Dickens, Sk. Boz (1866), 205. The neighbours stigmatised him as a chandler.
1851. D. Jerrold, St. Giles, xxvi. 273. Revenge is a magnificent passion, and not to be meddled with in the spirit of a chandler.
4. Comb., as chandler-shop; chandler-chafts Sc., lantern jaws; so chandler-chafted, lantern-jawed.
1714. Ramsay, Elegy John Cowper, xii. Shame fa’ ye’r *chandler-chafts, O Death!
1790. A. Wilson, Poems, 75 (Jam.). My sons wi’ chanler chafts gape roun’, To rive my gear, my siller frae me.
1785. Journ. fr. London, 4 (Jam.). A *chanler-chafted auld runk carlen.
1782. V. Knox, Ess., No. 170 (1819), III. 249. The *chandlershop-keeper.
1817. Cobbett, Wks., XXXII. 76. The ignorance of the Chandler-Shop Knights is equal to their impudence.
