Where does the expression "She Can't Light (or hold) a candle to him" come from/mean?

Question:I usually here it when someone is really exceptional at something...ppl say u cant hold a candle to them...but where in the world did that expression come from?

Answers:
To compare badly to an known authority - to be unfit even to hold a subordinate position.

Origin - Apprentices used to be expected to hold the candle so that more experienced workmen were able to see what they were doing. Someone unable even to do that would be of low status indeed.


'To hold a candle' is first recorded in 1883 in William Norris's No New Thing:

"Edith is pretty, very pretty; but she can't hold a candle to Nellie."

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