candle-wick

A candle-wick, collapsed in the pool of grease that filled the candle-sconce, showed how completely her last meditations had absorbed her.

Scenes from a Courtesan's Life 2007

The OED has it s.v. candle-wick, but offers no suggestion as to the origin of the name, so "unaccountably" is the mot juste.

languagehat.com: W.G. SEBALD. 2004

He showed Huck the fragment of candle-wick perched on a lump of clay against the wall, and described how he and Becky had watched the flame struggle and expire.

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer 2003

Notice the smoking candle-wick at the foot, and the motto which says that everything that is not of God is as smoke evanescent.

A Wanderer in Venice Harry [Illustrator] Morley 1903

Before going to bed, I had taken it from my suitcase to trim a candle-wick, and had left it upon the bookstand.

The Thing from the Lake 1903

Dick lit what was left of the candle-wick as he spoke and placed it on the bench.

The Rover Boys on the Plains The Mystery of Red Rock Ranch Edward Stratemeyer 1896

Forty or more folk-names have been applied to it, mostly in allusion to its alleged curative powers, its use for candle-wick and funeral torches in the

Wild Flowers Worth Knowing Neltje Blanchan 1891

But, see, of a sudden the light gathers to the candle-wick, which had stood helpless and useless, touches it, and it begins to shine with a light not its own.

John the Baptist 1888

One night he threw the snuff of a candle-wick on a fuse that he had arranged so that it would go off in the midst of the prayer.

Memorials of a southern planter, 1887

At such seasons they are alert for appropriating building materials that may have been fetched to hand by other birds; and they have already abstracted a piece of candle-wick from the bottom of my post-office.

Aftermath James Lane Allen 1887