n. 壁式烛台, 头, 头盔

vt. 遮蔽

Sconce \Sconce\, n. [D. schans, OD. schantse, perhaps from OF.
esconse a hiding place, akin to esconser to hide, L.
absconsus, p. p. of abscondere. See {Abscond}, and cf.
{Ensconce}, {Sconce} a candlestick.]
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. [OF. esconse a dark lantern, properly, a hiding place. See
Etymol. above.] 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. (Arch.) A squinch.

9. A fragment of a floe of ice. --Kane.

10. [Perhaps a different word.] A fixed seat or shelf. [Prov.
Eng.]


Sconce \Sconce\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Sconced}; p. pr. & vb. n.
{Sconcing}.]
1. To shut up in a sconce; to imprison; to insconce. [Obs.]

Immure him, sconce him, barricade him in 't.
--Marston.

2. To mulct; to fine. [Obs.] --Milton.

Squinch \Squinch\ (skw[i^]nch), n. [Corrupted fr. sconce.]
(Arch.)
A small arch thrown across the corner of a square room to
support a superimposed mass, as where an octagonal spire or
drum rests upon a square tower; -- called also {sconce}, and
{sconcheon}.