sconce

Meanings

Noun

• A fixture for a light.
• A head or a skull.
• A poll tax; a mulct or fine.
• A piece of armor for the head; headpiece; helmet.
• A type of small fort or other fortification, especially as built to defend a pass or ford.
• A hut for protection and shelter; a stall.
• The circular tube, with a brim, in a candlestick, into which the candle is inserted.
• A squinch.
• A fragment of a floe of ice.
• A fixed seat or shelf.

Verb

• to impose a fine, a forfeit, or a mulct.
• to shut within a sconce; to imprison.

Origin

• From Middle English sconce, skonce, sconse, from Old French esconce ("lantern"), from Latin absconsus ("hidden"), perfect passive participle of abscondō. Cognate with abscond.
• Borrowed from Middle Dutch schans, cognate with German Schanze.