\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.