candled

1. 1
   verb

   Simple past and past participle of candle.

   The grader candled each egg and set aside any with internal spots.

   Before modern lamps, sellers candled eggs over an open flame to judge their freshness.

   Note

   One spelling serves both the past tense (she candled the eggs) and the participle after have or be (the eggs were candled). It is formed regularly by adding -d to the silent e of candle. The verb behind it always takes an object and works in three settings: inspecting eggs, checking an envelope held up to the light, and pottery, where greenware is candled by holding the kiln at 200° Celsius until the water is gone.

2. 2
   adjective

   Inspected by being held up to a strong light, so that the contents can be seen through the shell: most often said of eggs.

   The recipe calls for candled eggs to make sure none are spoiled.

   Each carton of candled eggs carried a quality stamp from the packing plant.

   Note

   A participial adjective that sits naturally before a noun, as in candled eggs. It takes no comparison: an egg has either been candled or it has not, so nothing is ever more candled than something else. It keeps the looking-through-the-shell meaning of the verb's past participle. A candled egg has been inspected against the light, not dried in a kiln.

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