different between lightfixture vs sconce

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /sk?ns/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /sk?ns/
• Rhymes: -?ns

Etymology 1

From Middle English sconce, skonce, sconse, from Old French esconce (“lantern”), from Latin absconsus (“hidden”), perfect passive participle of abscond? (“hide”). Cognate with abscond.

Noun

sconce (plural sconces)

1. A fixture for a light.

   • […] tapers put into lanterns or sconces of several-coloured, oiled paper, that the wind might not annoy them.
2. A head or a skull.
3. A poll tax; a mulct or fine.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Johnson to this entry?)

4. A piece of armor for the head; headpiece; helmet.

Related terms

• abscond

Translations

Verb

sconce (third-person singular simple present sconces, present participle sconcing, simple past and past participle sconced)

1. (obsolete) to impose a fine, a forfeit, or a mulct.

   (The addition of quotations indicative of this usage is being sought:)

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Middle Dutch schans, cognate with German Schanze.

Alternative forms

• skonce

Noun

sconce (plural sconces)

1. A type of small fort or other fortification, especially as built to defend a pass or ford.
2. (obsolete) A hut for protection and shelter; a stall.

   • one that […] must raise a sconce by the highway and sell switches

3. The circular tube, with a brim, in a candlestick, into which the candle is inserted.
4. (architecture) A squinch.
5. A fragment of a floe of ice.
   • 1856, Elisha Kent Kane, Arctic Explorations

     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.

6. A fixed seat or shelf.

Derived terms

• ensconce

Verb

sconce (third-person singular simple present sconces, present participle sconcing, simple past and past participle sconced)

1. (obsolete) to shut within a sconce; to imprison.

References

Further reading

• sconce in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• sconce in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• Douglas Harper (2001–2021) , “sconce”, in Online Etymology Dictionary
• sconce (light fixture) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• sconce (fortification) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Italian

Alternative forms

• sconcie (nonstandard)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?skon.t??e/
• Hyphenation: scón?ce

Adjective

sconce

1. feminine plural of sconcio