WordWeight : Weighing the Words

Pronunciation : Sconce
Part of Speech : n.
Etymology : [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.]
Definition : 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.]
Source : Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913

Pronunciation : Sconce
Part of Speech : v.
Definition : 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.

t. [imp. & p. p. Sconced; p. pr. & vb. n. Sconcing.]
Source : Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913