sconcel (skons)

[Early mod. E. also sconse, skonce, scons, It wexyth derke, thou nedyst a scons . Political Poems , etc. (ed. Furnivall), p. 11. Wood. Yonder's a light, master-constable. Blurt . Peace, Woodcock, the sconce approaches. Middle ton, Blurt, Master-Constable, iv. 3. The windows of the whole citty were set with tapers put into lanterns or sconces of several colour'd oyl'd paper. Evelyn , Diary, Nov. 22, 1644. 2. A candlestick having the form of a bracket projecting from a wall or column; also, a group of such candlesticks, forming, with an appliqué or flat, somewhat ornamented disk or plaque which seems to adhere to the wall, a decorative object. These were most commonly of bra during the years when sconces were most in use. I have put Wax-lights in the Sconces ; and placed the Footmen in a Row in the Hall. Congreve , Way of the World, iv. 1. Sconce. 3. The socket for the candle in a candlestick of any form, especially when having a projecting rim around it. sconce2 (skons), n. [Early mod. E. also sconse, skonce; = schantze, a fortre , sconce, = late MHG. schanze, a bundle of twigs, intrenchment, G. schanze, G. dial.schanz, bulwark, fortification (>It. scancia, bookcase), = Dan. skandse, fort, quarter-deck, Sw. skans, fort, sconce, steerage, = MD. schantse, D. schans = MLG. esconse, esconce, f., escons, m., a hiding-place, a retreat, If you consider me in little, I Am, with your worship's reverence, sir, a rascal; One that, upon the next anger of your brother, Must raise a sconce by the highway, and sell switches. Beau . and Fl . , Scornful Lady, v. 3. The great pine at the root of which she was sitting was broken off just above her head, and blown to the ground; and, by its fall, enclosed her in an impenetrable sconce, under which alone in the general wreck could her life have been preserved. S. Judd , Margaret, i. 16. scone 2. A work for defense, detached from the main works for some local object; a bulwark; a block-house; a fort, as for the defense of a pa or river. Basilius sconce. Which their dull sconses cannot eas'ly reach. Dr. H. More, Psychozoia, iii. 13. 6. A mulct; a fine. See sconce2 , v. t., 3. When I was at Oriel, some dozen years ago, sconces were the fines, of a few pence, inflicted in the "gate-bill" upon undergraduates who "knocked-in" after Tom had tolled his hundred-and-one strokes. The word was traditionally supposed to be derived from the candlestick, or sconce, which the porter used to light him while opening the door. N. and Q., 6th ser., XII. 523. ... Tom Brown , Works, ii. 282. ( Davies .) sconce2 (skons), v. t.; pret. and pp. sconced, ppr. sconcing . [ They set upon the town of Jor, for that was sconced [palisaded] and compa ed about with wooden stakes, most of the houses being of straw. Linschoten, Diary, 1594 (Arber's Eng. Garner, III. 328). [( Davies.) 2. Same as ensconce. I'll sconce me even here. Cambridge Shak . , Hamlet, iii. 4. 4. 3. To a e or tax at so much per head; mulct; fine; specifically, in the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, to put the name of in the college buttery-books by way of fine; mulct in a tankard of ale or the like for some offense. See the quotations. I have had a head in most of the butteries of Cambridge, and it has been sconced to purpose. Shirley, Witty Fair One, iv. 2. Arist. Drinking college tap-lash... will let them, have no more learning than they size, nor a drop of wit more than the butler sets on their heads. 2d Schol. 'Twere charity in him to sconce 'em soundly; they would have but a poor quantum else. Randolph , Aristippus (Works, ed. Hazlitt, 1875, р. 14). During my residence at Brasenose-say 1835-1840-I remember the college cook, being sent for from the kitchen, appearing in the hall in his white jacket and paper cap, and being sconced a guinea by the vice-principal at the high table, complaint of some bachelor or under graduate members of the college, for having sent to table meat in an unfit state, or some such culinary delinquency. W. E. Buckley , N. and Q., 7th ser., I. 216.