Plural of candleberry; berries from shrubs whose wax can be used to make candles.
Compound: candle (Latin candela) + berries (Old English berige). Refers specifically to bayberries and waxberries whose fatty coating made them useful for candle-making before paraffin wax.
Colonial Americans made candles from candleberries (bayberries) by boiling the berries and skimming off the wax—a labor-intensive process that made bayberry candles expensive and a luxury item!
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