Part 117

Scomm (skm), n. [L. scomma a taunt, jeer, scoff, Gr. &?;, fr. &?; to mock, scoff at.] 1. A buffoon. [Obs.] L'Estrange.

2. A flout; a jeer; a gibe; a taunt. [Obs.] Fotherby.

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, 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.