Meaning of Roman-candle | Babel Free

Definitions

1. To move from or spin away in the manner of a Roman candle.
   figuratively, intransitive
2. To achieve or attain fame or success quickly and rapidly.
   figuratively, intransitive
3. To light up with excitement that lacks of focus or direction.
   figuratively, transitive

Examples

“His canopy had snagged on the tailplane of the aircraft, causing him to Roman-candle into the rocky desert ground.”

“Luckily, the seat parted company enough for his parachute to Roman-candle, and almost immediately he crashed through a tree.”

“Ronald Reagan went on TV hours after the space shuttle Challenger tragically Roman-candled over Florida and said, "The future doesn't belong to the fainthearted; it belongs to the brave."”

“[…] Roman candled to fame in Gertrude Lawrence's legit musical, "Lady In The Dark," which put Freud in grease-paint.”

“Murry (the K) Kaufman, whose seven-year "Swingin' Soiree" Roman-candled Saturday (27), has taped a pilot for the station.”

“Despite the severe shortage of goose-bump manufacturers of late in our jaded, weary world, music never fails to roman-candle the spine.”

“I was Roman candling with less frequency; the more accustomed to the chase I became, the less manic I acted.”

“And then absurd notions roman-candled in his mind.”

“Their parachutes collapsed and together they roman-candled into the ground.”

“In 1943 when Dad was at school in Shropshire, he saw two US planes collide, one pilot managed to bail out but unfortunately he roman-candled with the school children watching it.”

“One of the paratrooper's 'chutes had roman-candled – failed to open – and he had plunged into the ground only fifty yards from where we were standing.”

CEFR level