jack o'lantern

Meaning

Noun

• will o' the wisp, a strange light that attracts travellers
• A vegetable, usually a pumpkin, but alternatively a turnip, carved into the form of a face and lighted within by a candle. Associated chiefly with the holiday Halloween.

Related

Similar words

• ignis fatuus, will o' the wisp, hinkypunk , Joan the wad , hobby lantern, , peg-a-lantern , Will the Smith , Pinket , Will o' the Wikes

Origin

• Jack + o' + lantern.
• Attested as a term for ignis fatuus in English folklore in the 1660s, mostly in East Anglia but also in southwestern England.
• The sense of carved pumpkin in American English is attested in 1834.