Category:Sconce

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.]

Defn: 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.)

Defn: a squinch.

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

10. Etym: [perhaps a different word.]

Defn: a fixed seat or shelf. [prov. Eng.]

Sconce 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.