'Sconce' definitions:

Definition of 'sconce'

From: WordNet
noun
A shelter or screen providing protection from enemy fire or from the weather
noun
A small fort or earthwork defending a ford, pass, or castle gate
noun
A candle or flaming torch secured in a sconce
noun
A decorative wall bracket for holding candles or other sources of light

Definition of 'Sconce'

From: GCIDE
  • Sconce \Sconce\, n. [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. [1913 Webster]
  • No sconce or fortress of his raising was ever known either to have been forced, or yielded up, or quitted. --Milton. [1913 Webster]
  • 2. A hut for protection and shelter; a stall. [1913 Webster]
  • One that . . . must raise a sconce by the highway and sell switches. --Beau. & Fl. [1913 Webster]
  • 3. A piece of armor for the head; headpiece; helmet. [1913 Webster]
  • I must get a sconce for my head. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
  • 4. Fig.: The head; the skull; also, brains; sense; discretion. [Colloq.] [1913 Webster]
  • To knock him about the sconce with a dirty shovel. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
  • 5. A poll tax; a mulct or fine. --Johnson. [1913 Webster]
  • 6. [OF. esconse a dark lantern, properly, a hiding place. See Etymol. above.] A protection for a light; a lantern or cased support for a candle; hence, a fixed hanging or projecting candlestick. [1913 Webster]
  • Tapers put into lanterns or sconces of several-colored, oiled paper, that the wind might not annoy them. --Evelyn. [1913 Webster]
  • Golden sconces hang not on the walls. --Dryden. [1913 Webster]
  • 7. Hence, the circular tube, with a brim, in a candlestick, into which the candle is inserted. [1913 Webster]
  • 8. (Arch.) A squinch. [1913 Webster]
  • 9. A fragment of a floe of ice. --Kane. [1913 Webster]
  • 10. [Perhaps a different word.] A fixed seat or shelf. [Prov. Eng.] [1913 Webster]

Definition of 'Sconce'

From: GCIDE
  • 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.] [1913 Webster]
  • Immure him, sconce him, barricade him in 't. --Marston. [1913 Webster]
  • 2. To mulct; to fine. [Obs.] --Milton. [1913 Webster]

Definition of 'sconce'

From: GCIDE
  • Squinch \Squinch\ (skw[i^]nch), n. [Corrupted fr. sconce.] (Arch.) A small arch thrown across the corner of a square room to support a superimposed mass, as where an octagonal spire or drum rests upon a square tower; -- called also sconce, and sconcheon. [1913 Webster]

Synonyms of 'sconce'

From: Moby Thesaurus

Words containing 'Sconce'