| Sconce 1. (p. p.) A fortification, or work for defense; a fort. 2. (p. p.) A hut for protection and shelter; a stall. 3. (p. p.) A piece of armor for the head; headpiece; helmet. 4. (p. p.) Fig.: The head; the skull; also, brains; sense; discretion. 5. (p. p.) A poll tax; a mulct or fine. 6. (p. p.) A protection for a light; a lantern or cased support for a candle; hence, a fixed hanging or projecting candlestick. 7. (p. p.) Hence, the circular tube, with a brim, in a candlestick, into which the candle is inserted. 8. (p. p.) A squinch. 9. (p. p.) A fragment of a floe of ice. 10. (p. p.) A fixed seat or shelf. 11. (v. t.) To shut up in a sconce; to imprison; to ensconce. 12. (v. t.) To mulct; to fine. Thesaurus Entries 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 |