The Collaborative International Dictionary
Jack-o'-lantern \Jack"-o'-lan`tern\, Jack-with-a-lantern \Jack"-with-a-lan`tern\, n.
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(Biol.) A large orange-colored luminescent mushroom, Clitocybe illudens, also classified as Omphalotus olearius. It is poisonous and is sometimes found on hardwood tree stumps. [WordNet sense 1]
Syn: jack-a-lantern, Clitocybe illudens.
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a pale light sometimes seen at night over marshy ground; an ignis fatuus; a will-o'-the-wisp. [WordNet sense 2]``[Newspaper speculations] supplying so many more jack-o'-lanterns to the future historian.''
--Lowell.Syn: friar's lantern, ignis fatuus, will-o'-the-wisp.
A lantern carved from a hollowed-out pumpkin, with holes cut in the rind and so shaped that when it is illuminated by a candle inside, the features of a human face, cat's face, etc. appear in a glowing yellow color. It is used mostly as a decoration at Halloween.
Ignis fatuus \Ig"nis fat"u*us\; pl. Ignes fatui. [L. ignis fire + fatuus foolish. So called in allusion to its tendency to mislead travelers.]
A phosphorescent light that appears, in the night, over marshy ground, supposed to be occasioned by the decomposition of animal or vegetable substances, or by some inflammable gas; -- popularly called also Will-with-the-wisp, or Will-o'-the-wisp, and Jack-with-a-lantern, or Jack-o'-lantern.
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Fig.: A misleading influence; a decoy.
Scared and guided by the ignis fatuus of popular superstition.
--Jer. Taylor.
Wiktionary
n. 1 A carved pumpkin whose top and stem have been cut out and interior removed, leaving a hollow shell that is then decorated to represent a face, illuminated from within by a candle. 2 (context archaic English) A will o' the wisp.
WordNet
n. a pale light sometimes seen at night over marshy ground [syn: friar's lantern, ignis fatuus, will-o'-the-wisp]
lantern carved from a pumpkin
Wikipedia
A jack-o'-lantern (or jack o'lantern) is a carved pumpkin or turnip lantern, associated with the holiday of Halloween and named after the phenomenon of a strange light flickering over peat bogs, called will-o'-the-wisp or jack-o'-lantern. In a jack-o'-lantern, the top of the pumpkin or turnip is cut off to form a lid, the inside flesh is scooped out, and an image — usually a monstrous or comical face – is carved out of the rind to expose the hollow interior. To create the lantern effect, a light source is placed within before the lid is closed. The light source is traditionally a flame such as a candle or tea light, but artificial jack-'o-lanterns with electric lights are also marketed. It is common to see jack-o'-lanterns on doorsteps and otherwise used as decorations prior to and on Halloween.
Jack-o'-lantern may be:
Usage examples of "jack-o'-lantern".
It was an impressive late Victorian pile, with turrets and huge picture windows that glowed like the eyes of a jack-o'-lantern, situated on a clifflike outcropping that overlooked the lake.
In my youth, trick-or-treat escapades were tame: soaped windows, upset trash cans, demounted garden gates, toilet-paper festoons on shrubs and — in the case of notorious neighborhood ogres — walks and porches defiled with smashed jack-o'-lanterns and rotten eggs.
He puts down the jack-o'-lantern and braceshimself against a garbage can, swaying drunkenly.
I look into the lighted face of the jack-o'-lantern and since I just know that Lauren will get a kick out of it I have to swipe it.
The head, which sat atop an impossibly thin neck, looked like a green jack-o'-lantern, with its mouth in a permanent expression of surprise, and two nonblinking, almost luminous saucers for eyes.
As Violet knew, jackline is a kind of rope used in sailing, and as Klaus knew, jacutinga is a sort of gold-bearing iron ore found in Brazil, and once again there were plenty of files between these two, but although the children found information on jack-o'-lanterns, Jack Russell terriers, and Jacobean drama, there was no file marked "Jacques.
Ghost wondered if the one-eyed jack-o'-lantern he had carved was still burning on their front porch.
As Halloween approached, the half-acre property, tucked between a supermarket and a bank on the outskirts of Santa Ana, was an orange montage of pumpkins: all sizes and shapes, lined in rows and stacked in neat low pyramids and tumbled in piles, maybe two thousand of them, three thousand, the raw material of pies and jack-o'-lanterns.
Frank stared at the old man, perhaps sensing some of what Tommy felt, but he finally shrugged and turned away, carrying the jack-o'-lantern toward the front of the lot where their father was buying a score of uncarved pumpkins for the big party the following night.