candlewick

noun

Etymology: From Middle English candelwyk, candelwike, from Old English candelweoc, candelwēoce (“candlewick”), equivalent to candle + wick.

1. The wick of a candle.

   “Accordingly, the next day I came provided with six large candles of my own making (for I made very good candles now of goat’s tallow, but was hard set for candle-wick, using sometimes rags or rope-yarn, and sometimes the dried rind of a weed like nettles); and going into this low place I was obliged to creep upon all-fours as I have said, almost ten yards—which, by the way, I thought was a venture bold enough, considering that I knew not how far it might go, nor what was beyond it.”

   “The unsnuffed candlewick was crowned with a tuft of sooty ash, the fire had died down into a few dull red and white embers […]”

2. The thread used to make the wicks of candles.
3. A soft cotton yarn that gives a tufted pattern to embroidery.

   “He sat on the candlewick bedspread and a woman came into the room and knelt on the floor in front of him.”