Sconce
Sconce , noun
[Dutch schans, OD. schantse, perhaps from Old French esconse a hiding place, akin to esconser to hide, Latin absconsus, past participle of abscondere. See Abscond, and compare 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.
2.
A hut for protection and shelter; a stall.
One that... must raise a sconce by the highway and sell switches.
3.
A piece of armor for the head; headpiece; helmet.
I must get a sconce for my head.
4.
Figuratively: The head; the skull; also, brains; sense; discretion. [Colloquial]
To knock him about the sconce with a dirty shovel.
5.
A poll tax; a mulct or fine. — Johnson
6.
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.
Golden sconces hang not on the walls.
7.
Hence, the circular tube, with a brim, in a candlestick, into which the candle is inserted.
8.
(Architecture) A squinch.
9.
A fragment of a floe of ice. — Kane
10.
A fixed seat or shelf. [Provincial English]
Sconce , transitive verb
1.
To shut up in a sconce; to imprison; to insconce. [Obsolete]
Immure him, sconce him, barricade him in 't.
2.
To mulct; to fine. [Obsolete] — Milton