sconce

sconce is a Noun

Definition:

[1] A fortification, or work for defense; a fort. No sconce or fortress of his raising was ever known either to have been forced, or yielded up, or quitted. Milton.

[2] A hut for protection and shelter; a stall. One that . . . must raise a sconce by the highway and sell switches. Beau. & Fl.

[3] A piece of armor for the head; headpiece; helmet. I must get a sconce for my head. Shak.

[4] Fig.: The head; the skull; also, brains; sense; discretion. [Colloq.] To knock him about the sconce with a dirty shovel. Shak.

[5] A poll tax; a mulct or fine. Johnson.

[6] A protection for a light; a lantern or cased support for a candle; hence, a fixed hanging or projecting candlestick. Tapers put into lanterns or sconces of several-colored, oiled paper, that the wind might not annoy them. Evelyn. Golden sconces hang not on the walls. Dryden.

[7] Hence, the circular tube, with a brim, in a candlestick, into which the candle is inserted.

[8] A squinch.

[9] A fragment of a floe of ice. Kane.

[10] A fixed seat or shelf. [Prov. Eng.]