Crossword clues for sconce
sconce
- Candlestick that is of old
- Candlestick boy carried around cold Anglican church
- Ornamental candle holder
- Shelter for fine candlestick
- Light bracket formerly placed behind sack, oddly
- Protective shelter
- Its back is up against the wall
- One carrying a torch?
- Light fixture
- It may carry a torch
- Wall-mounted candleholder
- Wall light
- One might carry a torch
- Lamp bracket
- Indoor lighting option
- Decorative wall light fixture
- Decorative candle holder
- Candlestick park?
- Torch carrier
- Where a candlestick parks?
- One may carry a torch
- Wall fixture
- Torch bearer, maybe
- Torch holder
- Its contents are often wicked
- Ornamental light fixture
- Decorative fixture
- Keeper of the flame?
- A forbidding stronghold
- A candlestick with a flat side to be hung on the wall
- Wall bracket
- Bracket for candles
- Candlestick socket
- Candle holder on a wall
- Candle bracket
- Voices concerns about candlestick
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
late 14c., "candlestick with a screen," a shortening of Old French esconse "lantern, hiding place," from Medieval Latin sconsa, from Latin absconsa, fem. past participle of abscondere "to hide" (see abscond). Meaning "metal bracket-candlestick fastened to a wall" is recorded from mid-15c.
Wiktionary
Etymology 1 n. 1 A light fixture. 2 A head or a skull. 3 A poll tax; a mulct or fine. 4 A piece of armour for the head; headpiece; helmet. vb. (label en obsolete) to impose a fine, a forfeit, or a mulct. Etymology 2
alt. 1 A type of small fort or other fortification, especially as built to defend a pass or ford. 2 (label en obsolete) A hut for protection and shelter; a stall. 3 The circular tube, with a brim, in a candlestick, into which the candle is inserted. 4 (label en architecture) A squinch. 5 A fragment of a floe of ice. 6 A fixed seat or shelf. n. 1 A type of small fort or other fortification, especially as built to defend a pass or ford. 2 (label en obsolete) A hut for protection and shelter; a stall. 3 The circular tube, with a brim, in a candlestick, into which the candle is inserted. 4 (label en architecture) A squinch. 5 A fragment of a floe of ice. 6 A fixed seat or shelf. vb. (label en obsolete) to shut within a sconce; to imprison.
WordNet
n. a candlestick with a flat side to be hung on the wall
a forbidding stronghold [syn: redoubt]
Wikipedia
A sconce is a type of light fixture affixed to a wall in such a way that it uses only the wall for support, and the light is usually directed upwards, but not always. It does not have a base on the ground. For this reason, lighting fixtures will need an electrical box to be installed. The word applies both to traditional forms of torch, candle or gas lighting, but also to modern electric light sources affixed in the same way. Modern fittings are more often called wall lights or similar terms, especially if the light source is wholly covered by glass.
Sconces can be placed on both the interior and exterior walls of buildings. In pre-modern usage, these usually held candles and torches respectively. Historically, candle sconces were often made of silver from the 17th century, with porcelain coming in in the 18th.
The etymology of sconce is from the Latin absconsus, and the French esconce. It is a word of many meanings, mostly signifying a covering or protection, or, by extension, that which is covered or protected.
Modern electric light fixture sconces are often used in hallways or corridors to provide both lighting and a point of interest in a long passage. Sconce height in a passageway is generally 3/4 of the distance up the wall as measured from the floor to the ceiling, and the distance between sconces on the wall is generally equal to the distance of the sconces from the floor, often alternating sides of the passageway. Sconces are typically installed in pairs or other multiple units to provide balance. They can be used to frame doorways or line a hallway. Swing arm sconces are often placed next to a bed to provide task lighting for reading.
A sconce is a small protective fortification, such as an earthwork, often placed on a mound as a defensive work for artillery. It was used primarily in Northern Europe from the late Middle Ages until the 19th century. This type of fortification was common during the English Civil War, and the remains of one such structure can be seen on Fort Royal Hill in Worcester, England. During the Eighty Years' War for Dutch independence, the sconces (schans in Dutch) were often used to defend strategic places, but were used also during sieges and in circumvallations. Several more or less intact sconces remain in the Netherlands. The Zaanse Schans, one of the top tourist locations in the Netherlands, derived its name from its original function as a sconce. Sconces played a major part in the Serbian Revolution, countering the numerical superiority of the Turkish army.
Sconce may refer to:
- Sconce (fortification), a military fortification
- Sconce (light fixture)
- Sconcing, imposing a penalty in the form of drink
- Sconce Point on the Isle of Wight
Usage examples of "sconce".
More torches and sconces were lit in the halls and fineries and plumeries sprouted by the scores.
Juraviel scampering about the barn, retrieving torches and their sconces.
There was a Regency library table under the bow window at one end of the room and a pair of shield-back armchairs on either side of a handsome secreta ire-bookcase, the whole lighted by wall sconces with delicate pink shades and several table lamps.
The heavy arhythmia of her breathing mixed with the low sounds of his sure motions as he lit the candle beside her bed and then lit the wall sconces with their brilliant mirror backing.
He starts out his career at an all-girl opium den in Charlottenburg, almost within sight of the statue of Wernher Siemens, burning up in a sconce, one among many bulbs witnessing the more languorous forms of Republican decadence.
Torches set in iron sconces on either side of the chimneypiece flamed vivid red, hissing and smoking and dripping hot pitch.
Gomez removed a lit candle from the candelabrum and placed it in the sconce on the wall above the daybed, then he bowed and withdrew.
Beneath a flickering wall sconce, a recumbent statue of some pseudo-Grecian god was being enthusiastically fellated by a water nymph on her knees.
At the far end of the room was an enormous stage, the drop curtain raised to reveal the gas footlights in green cabbage leaf sconces.
Then Gedd went ahead, enterprisingly setting light to at least one candle in every sconce, all the way to the upper floor, making the steps more visible, bringing a wan, ordinary light to the heart of the Zeide.
A glass vestibule opened into a narrow lofty hall, carpeted in a rich shade of burgundy, its white-painted walls lighted by crystal sconces, and at one side, under a wide arch, Annis caught a glimpse of a staircase.
Songs the churls could understand: Thrumming on their Saxon sconces Straight, the invariable blow, Till they snorted true responses.
The overhead light fixtures and wall sconces were shaped like gilded cherubs armed with cornucopias.
Cut flowers, white morningstars, stood in a flat, round vase on the table by the bed, and more nodded in glazed white sconces on the walls.
The baronial overtones were further diminished by the blaze of rosy light from the chandelier and wall sconces, and the huge fire crackling up the chimney back.