sconce

• POS: Noun, Verb (transitive)

CIDE DICTIONARY

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.].

•  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."  [1913 Webster]
•  A hut for protection and shelter; a stall.  [1913 Webster]

  "One that . . . must raise a sconce by the highway and sell switches."  [1913 Webster]
•  A piece of armor for the head; headpiece; helmet.  [1913 Webster]

  "I must get a sconce for my head."  [1913 Webster]
•  Fig.: The head; the skull; also, brains; sense; discretion.  [1913 Webster]

  "To knock him about the sconce with a dirty shovel."  [1913 Webster]
•  A poll tax; a mulct or fine.  Johnson.  [1913 Webster]
•  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."  [1913 Webster]

  "Golden sconces hang not on the walls."  [1913 Webster]
•  Hence, the circular tube, with a brim, in a candlestick, into which the candle is inserted.  [1913 Webster]
•  A squinch.  [1913 Webster]
•  A fragment of a floe of ice.  Kane.  [1913 Webster]
•  A fixed seat or shelf.  [1913 Webster]

sconce, v. t. 

•  To shut up in a sconce; to imprison; to insconce.  [1913 Webster]

  "Immure him, sconce him, barricade him in 't."  [1913 Webster]
•  To mulct; to fine.  Milton.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

sconce, n.
1 a flat candlestick with a handle.
2 a bracket candlestick to hang on a wall.

sconce, n.
1 a small fort or earthwork usu. defending a ford, pass, etc.
2 archaic a shelter or screen.

Etymology

Du. schans brushwood f. MHG schanze

THESAURUS

sconce

abatis, advanced work, amercement, balistraria, bank, banquette, barbed-wire entanglement, barbican, barricade, barrier, bartizan, bastion, battlement, bean, belfry, bracket, brain, breastwork, brow, bulwark, candelabrum, candlestand, candlestick, casemate, chandelier, cheval-de-frise, chump, circumvallation, conk, contravallation, counterscarp, crown, curtain, damages, demibastion, dike, distraint, distress, dome, drawbridge, earthwork, encephalon, enclosure, entanglement, escarp, escarpment, escheat, escheatment, fence, fieldwork, fine, forfeit, forfeiture, fortalice, fortification, gas fixture, girandole, glacis, gray matter, head, headpiece, lamp holder, lampstand, light fixture, light socket, loophole, lunette, machicolation, mantelet, merlon, mound, mulct, noddle, noggin, noodle, organ of thought, outwork, palisade, parados, parapet, pate, poll, portcullis, postern gate, rampart, ravelin, redan, redoubt, ridge, sally port, scarp, seat of thought, sensation, sensorium, sensory, stockade, tenaille, torch holder, torch staff, vallation, vallum, wall bracket, work

ROGET THESAURUS

sconce

Defense

N defense, protection, guard, ward, shielding, propugnation, preservation, guardianship, area defense, site defense, self-defense, self-preservation, resistance, safeguard, balistraria, bunker, screen, camouflage, fortification, munition, muniment, trench, foxhole, bulwark, fosse, moat, ditch, entrenchment, intrenchment, kila, dike, dyke, parapet, sunk fence, embankment, mound, mole, bank, sandbag, revetment, earth work, field- work, fence, wall dead wall, contravallation, paling, palisade, haha, stockade, stoccado, laager, sangar, barrier, barricade, boom, portcullis, chevaux de frise, abatis, abattis, abbatis, vallum, circumvallation, battlement, rampart, scarp, escarp, counter-scarp, glacis, casemate, vallation, vanfos, buttress, abutment, shore, breastwork, banquette, curtain, mantlet, bastion, redan, ravelin, vauntmure, advance work, horn work, outwork, barbacan, barbican, redoubt, fort-elage, fort-alice, lines, loophole, machicolation, sally port, hold, stronghold, fastness, asylum, keep, donjon, dungeon, fortress, citadel, capitol, castle, tower of strength, tower of strength, fort, barracoon, pah, sconce, martello tower, peelhouse, blockhouse, rath, wooden walls, bulletproof vest, armored vest, buffer, corner stone, fender, apron, mask, gauntlet, thimble, carapace, armor, shield, buckler, aegis, breastplate, backplate, cowcatcher, face guard, scutum, cuirass, habergeon, mail, coat of mail, brigandine, hauberk, lorication, helmet, helm, bassinet, salade, heaume, morion, murrion, armet, cabaset, vizor, casquetel, siege cap, headpiece, casque, pickelhaube, vambrace, shako, bearskin, panoply, truncheon, garrison, picket, piquet, defender, protector, guardian, bodyguard, champion, knight-errant, Paladin, propugner, bulletproof window, hardened site, defending, defensive, mural, armed, armed at all points, armed cap-a-pie, armed to the teeth, panoplied, iron-plated, ironclad, loopholed, castellated, machicolated, casemated, defended, proof against, armored, ballproof, bulletproof, hardened, defensively, on the defense, on the defensive, in defense, at bay, pro aris et focis, Int, no surrender!, defense not defiance, Dieu defend le droit, fidei defensor, defender of the faith.

Penalty

VB fine, mulct, amerce, sconce, confiscate, sequestrate, sequester, escheat, estreat, forfeit.

Summit

N summit, summity, top, peak, vertex, apex, zenith, pinnacle, acme, culmination, meridian, utmost height, ne plus utra, height, pitch, maximum, climax, culminating point, crowning point, turning point, turn of the tide, fountain head, water shed, water parting, sky, pole, tip, tip top, crest, crow's nest, cap, truck, nib, end, crown, brow, head, nob, noddle, pate, capsheaf, high places, heights, topgallant mast, sky scraper, quarter deck, hurricane deck, architrave, frieze, cornice, coping stone, zoophorus, capital, epistyle, sconce, pediment, entablature, tympanum, ceiling, attic, loft, garret, house top, upper story, summit conference, summit, peak of achievement, peak of performance, peaks and troughs, peaks and valleys (in graphs), highest &c (high), top, top most, upper most, tiptop, culminating, meridian, meridional, capital, head, polar, supreme, supernal, topgallant, atop, at the top of the tree, en flute, fleur deau.

Luminary

N luminary, light, flame, spark, scintilla, phosphorescence, fluorescence, sun, orb of day, Phoebus, Apollo, Aurora, star, orb, meteor, falling star, shooting star, blazing star, dog star, Sirius, canicula, Aldebaran, constellation, galaxy, zodiacal light, anthelion, day star, morning star, Lucifer, mock sun, parhelion, phosphor, phosphorus, sun dog, Venus, aurora, polar lights, northern lights, aurora borealis, southern lights, aurora australis, lightning, chain lightning, fork lightning, sheet lightning, summer lightning, ball lightning, kugelblitz, phosphorus, yellow phosphorus, scintillator, phosphor, firefly luminescence, ignis fatuus, Jack o'lantern, Friar's lantern, will-o'-the- wisp, firedrake, Fata Morgana, Saint Elmo's fire, glowworm, firefly, June bug, lightning bug, anglerfish, gas, gas light, lime light, lantern, lanthorn, dark lantern, bull's-eye, candle, bougie, taper, rushlight, oil, wick, burner, Argand, moderator, duplex, torch, flambeau, link, brand, gaselier, chandelier, electrolier, candelabrum, candelabra, girandole, sconce, luster, candlestick, lamp, light, incandescent lamp, tungsten bulb, light bulb, flashlight, torch, arc light, laser, maser neon bulb, neon sign, fluorescent lamp, filament, socket, contacts, filler gas, firework, fizgig, pyrotechnics, rocket, lighthouse, self-luminous, glowing, phosphoric, phosphorescent, fluorescent, incandescent, luminescent, chemiluminescent, radiant, blossomed the lovely stars, the forget-me-nots of the angels, the sentinel stars set their watch in the sky, the planets in their station list'ning stood, the Scriptures of the skies, that orbed continent, the fire that severs day from night.

Intellect

N intellect, mind, understanding, reason, thinking principle, rationality, cogitative faculties, cognitive faculties, discursive faculties, reasoning faculties, intellectual faculties, faculties, senses, consciousness, observation, percipience, intelligence, intellection, intuition, association of ideas, instinct, conception, judgment, wits, parts, capacity, intellectuality, genius, brains, cognitive powers, intellectual powers, wit, ability, wisdom, Vernunft, Verstand, soul, spirit, ghost, inner man, heart, breast, bosom, penetralia mentis, divina particula aurae, heart's core, the Absolute, psyche, subliminal consciousness, supreme principle, brain, organ of thought, seat of thought, sensorium, sensory, head, headpiece, pate, noddle, noggin, skull, scull, pericranium, cerebrum, cranium, brainpan, sconce, upper story, central processing unit, CPU, arithmetic and logical unit, ALU, metaphysics, psychics, psychology, ideology, mental philosophy, moral philosophy, philosophy of the mind, pneumatology, phrenology, craniology, cranioscopy, ideality, idealism, transcendentalism, spiritualism, immateriality, universal concept, universal conception, metaphysician, psychologist, intellectual, mental, rational, subjective, metaphysical, nooscopic, spiritual, ghostly, psychical, psychological, cerebral, animastic, brainy, hyperphysical, superphysical, subconscious, subliminal, immaterial, endowed with reason, in petto, ens rationis, frons est animi janua, locos y ninos dicen la verdad, mens sola loco non exulat, my mind is my kingdom, stern men with empires in their brains, the mind, the music breathing from her face, thou living ray of intellectual Fire.