sconce
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sconce¹
- /skɒns/ UK
- /skɑns/ US
Rhymes with -ɒns
Where it comes from
From Middle English sconce, sconse (“candlestick or lantern (with screen)”), from Old French esconse (“lantern”), from Latin absconsus (“hidden”), perfect passive participle of abscondō (“hide”). Cognate with abscond.
noun sconces
- A fixture for a light, which holds it and provides a screen against wind or against a naked flame or lightbulb. […]tapers put into lanterns or sconces of several-coloured, oiled paper, that the wind might not annoy them.
- A candlestick (holder for a candle, especially a circular tube, with a brim, into which a candle is inserted), either with a handle for carrying, or with a bracket for attaching to a wall. Taking the candle […] she stood with the little flat brass sconce in her hand.
sconce²
- /skɒns/ UK
- /skɑns/ US
Rhymes with -ɒns
Where it comes from
Unclear. Perhaps a use of sconce (“light fixture”) or sconce (“fortification”), but seemingly older than the latter
noun sconces
- A head or a skull. Novv as I am a Chriſtian anſvver me, / In vvhat ſafe place you haue beſtovv'd my monie; / Or I ſhall breake that merrie ſconce of yours / That ſtands on tricks, vvhen I am vndiſpos'd: / VVhere is the thouſand Markes thou hadſt of me?
- A poll tax; a mulct or fine. I'll gladly pay a sconce
- An act of sconcing (very similar to a fine at Cambridge University, though a sconce is the act of issuing a penalty rather than the penalty itself). Near-synonym: (Cambridge University slang) fine
verb sconces · sconcing · sconced
- To impose a fine, a forfeit, or a mulct. The Rector sconced him in the buttery-book, but Webberly “wiped it off, with irreverent and unbeseeming language.” For this, he had to apologise, and go without his commons for three months.
-
During a meal or as part of a drinking game, to announce some (usually outrageous) deed such that anyone who has done it must drink (similar to I have never; commonly associated with crewdates; very similar to fining at Cambridge University).
Near-synonym: (Cambridge University slang) fine
Similar: fine
sconce³
- /skɒns/ UK
- /skɑns/ US
Rhymes with -ɒns
Where it comes from
Borrowed from Middle Dutch schans, cognate with German Schanze.
noun sconces · skonce
- A type of small fort or other fortification, especially as built to defend a pass or ford. No sconce or fortress of his raising was ever known either to have been forced, or yielded up, or quitted.
- A hut for protection and shelter; a stall. one that […] must raise a sconce by the highway and sell switches
- A squinch.
- A fragment of a floe of ice. Just then, a broad sconce-piece or low water-washed berg came driving up from the southward. The thought flashed upon me of one of our escapes in Melville Bay; and as the sconce moved rapidly close alongside us, McGary managed to plant an anchor on its slope and hold on to it by a whale-line.
- A fixed seat or shelf.
verb sconces · sconcing · sconced · skonce
- To shut within a sconce; to imprison.
Translations
Every language
noun light fixture on a wall
| Español | aplique |
|---|---|
| 中文 | 灯台 dēngtái, 烛台 zhútái |
| Português | arandela |
| Français | applique murale, applique |
| Deutsch | Wandlampe, Wandleuchte, Wandleuchter |
| Italiano | candelabro, candeliere da parete |
| Ελληνικά | απλίκα aplíka |
| Русский | бра bra |
Talk about this word "sconce." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/sconce. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. sconce. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/sconce "sconce." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/sconce.Cite this
@misc{sconce_2026,
title = {sconce},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/sconce},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
