Wasn't it 'Spill...'? The answer is/was Taper, a spill/thing for lighting candles etc. It's 'milk' = tap and 'on' = re, the 'rising' means you've to reverse it, so it becomes 'er'.
thank you for help, yes it was 5 letters-sorry cryptactic- and it was spill not spilt.It is 42 degrees C outside and 30 indoors which is my excuse for being totally gaga.