swale

1. A low tract of moist or marshy land.
2. A long narrow and shallow trough between ridges on a beach, running parallel to the coastline.
3. A shallow troughlike depression that's created to carry water during rainstorms or snow melts; a drainage ditch.
4. A shallow, usually grassy depression sloping downward from a plains upland meadow or level vegetated ridgetop.
5. A shallow trough dug into the land on contour (horizontally with no slope), whose purpose is to allow water time to percolate into the soil.

noun

A gutter in a candle.

1. To burn slowly.
2. To melt and run down, as the tallow of a candle; waste away without feeding the flame.
3. To singe; scorch; dress (as a hog) with burning or singeing.
4. To consume with fire; burn.
5. To make disappear; cause to waste away; diminish; reduce.