SCONCE

sconce

(noun) a decorative wall bracket for holding candles or other sources of light

sconce

(noun) a candle or flaming torch secured in a sconce

sconce

(noun) a small fort or earthwork defending a ford, pass, or castle gate

sconce

(noun) a shelter or screen providing protection from enemy fire or from the weather

Source: WordNet® 3.1

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Etymology 1

Noun

sconce (plural sconces)

A fixture for a light.

A head or a skull.

A poll tax; a mulct or fine.

A piece of armor for the head; headpiece; helmet.

Verb

sconce (third-person singular simple present sconces, present participle sconcing, simple past and past participle sconced)

(obsolete) to impose a fine, a forfeit, or a mulct.

Etymology 2

Noun

sconce (plural sconces)

A type of small fort or other fortification, especially as built to defend a pass or ford.

(obsolete) A hut for protection and shelter; a stall.

The circular tube, with a brim, in a candlestick, into which the candle is inserted.

(architecture) A squinch.

A fragment of a floe of ice.

A fixed seat or shelf.

Verb

sconce (third-person singular simple present sconces, present participle sconcing, simple past and past participle sconced)

(obsolete) to shut within a sconce; to imprison.

Source: Wiktionary

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Sconce, n. Etym: [D. schans, OD. schantse, perhaps from OF. esconse a hiding place, akin to esconser to hide, L. absconsus, p. p. of abscondere. See Abscond, and cf. Ensconce, Sconce a candlestick.]

1. A fortification, or work for defense; a fort. No sconce or fortress of his raising was ever known either to have been forced, or yielded up, or quitted. Milton.

2. A hut for protection and shelter; a stall. One that . . . must raise a sconce by the highway and sell switches. Beau. & Fl.

3. A piece of armor for the head; headpiece; helmet. I must get a sconce for my head. Shak.

4. Fig.: The head; the skull; also, brains; sense; discretion. [Colloq.] To knock him about the sconce with a dirty shovel. Shak.

5. A poll tax; a mulct or fine. Johnson.

6. Etym: [OF. esconse a dark lantern, properly, a hiding place. See Etymol. above.]

Definition: A protection for a light; a lantern or cased support for a candle; hence, a fixed hanging or projecting candlestick. Tapers put into lanterns or sconces of several-colored, oiled paper, that the wind might not annoy them. Evelyn. Golden sconces hang not on the walls. Dryden.

7. Hence, the circular tube, with a brim, in a candlestick, into which the candle is inserted.

8. (Arch.)

Definition: A squinch.

9. A fragment of a floe of ice. Kane.

10. Etym: [Perhaps a different word.]

Definition: A fixed seat or shelf. [Prov. Eng.]

Sconce, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Sconced; p. pr. & vb. n. Sconcing.]

1. To shut up in a sconce; to imprison; to insconce. [Obs.] Immure him, sconce him, barricade him in 't. Marston.

2. To mulct; to fine. [Obs.] Milton.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition

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