Sconce (pronounced skons)
(1) A bracket for candles or other lights, placed on a wall, mirror, picture frame etc (a development of the earlier use relating to candles).
(2) The hole or socket of a candlestick (for holding the candle).
(3) A fortification; a small detached fort or defense work, as to defend a pass, bridge etc; a protective screen or shelter (obsolete but there was a revival in video gaming).
(4) A hut for protection and shelter; a stall.
(5) In architecture, a squinch (a structure constructed between two adjacent walls to aid in the transition from a polygonal to a circular structure, as when a dome is constructed on top of a square room).
(6) A fixed seat or shelf.
(7) The head or skull; sense or wit (now rare, probably obsolete); a piece of armor for the head; headpiece; helmet (now for historic reference only).
(8) A fragment of a floe of ice.
(9) A poll tax; a mulct or fine.
(10) In the University of Oxford, informally to fine an undergraduate for a breach of rules or etiquette (the alternative to paying the penalty being to drink a specified quantity of ale); a fine so imposed; a mug or tankard used in sconcing (typically a beer bong).
(11) To shut within a sconce; to imprison.
(12) As the verb ensconce, to place in a secure environment; comfortably to settle.
1350–1400: From the Late Middle English sconce, sconce & sconse (defensive fortification or fortification work), from the Old French esconce (hiding place; lantern) from the Medieval Latin scōnsa, an aphetic variant of abscōnsa (noun use of feminine past participle of abscondere (to conceal; dark lantern) (also the source of the modern abscond)). The Latin absconsus (hidden) was the perfect passive participle of abscond (hide). Related was the Dutch schans (defensive fortification or fortification work) and the Middle High German Schanze (bundle of brushwood). The Dutch word also had an interesting evolution, used to mean (1) a type of small fort or other fortification, especially as built to defend a pass or ford, (2) a hut for protection and shelter; a stall, (3) a fragment of a floe of ice ( (4) as fixed seat or shelf. In English, while other meanings emerged, in military use sconce continued to be used to refer to fortifications or defensive works and during the English Civil War (1642-1651) a sconce was a small fortification or earthwork that was built quickly to defend a position. Sconce & sconcing are nouns & verbs and sconced is a verb; the noun plural is sconces.
An Oxford tradition
A tradition of the Oxford colleges, a sconcing was a demand a person drink a tankard of ale as a penalty for some breach of etiquette. The word in this context is attested from 1617 and originally described a monetary fine imposed for a more serious breach of discipline, the use as a kind of high table drinking game becoming common only in the early nineteenth century. Offences which might have attracted a sconce included talking at dinner about women, religion, politics, one's work, the portraits hung in the college hall or making some error in the reciting of the Latin Grace. Originally reserved for the senior scholar or fellow at each table, the right to demand a sconce (usually in Classical Latin (and mixing in later variants was not tolerated) or Ancient Greek) was later extended to all. The quantity of a sconce varied from two imperial pints (1.1 litres) and three and three-quarters (2.1 litres) although the larger measures are believed to have been "rare". The Oxford tradition was essentially the same as "fining" at Cambridge although in the narrow technical sense, a sconce was the act of issuing a penalty rather than the penalty itself, a distinction often lost on undergraduates, especially after a couple of sconces. In 1945, while at Oxford on a Rhodes Scholarship, Bob Hawke (1929–2019; Prime Minister of Australia 1983-1991) was sconced (fined) for neglecting to wear his academic grown (then daytime wear for students and dons). Not wishing to pay the fine, he opted to scull a yard glass of ale (2½ imperial pints (3 US pints, 1.4 litres) achieving the feat in 11 seconds, setting the world record. In his memoir (The Hawke Memoirs (1994)), wryly he observed setting this mark was remembered by more Australians than any of the reforms or achievements of his seven year premiership.
In the Netflix film Falling for Christmas, the plot line includes Lindsay Lohan suffering trauma-induced amnesia after a blow to the sconce. In English slang (UK and most of the Commonwealth although it seems not to have reached the critical mass needed for survival in the US & Canada) the use of sconce (which may have peaked in the early nineteenth century although any measure of oral use is difficult to estimate) to mean "the head, the skull" remained common until just after World War I (1914-1918). Etymologists suspect the decline may have been the result of UK & Commonwealth troops mixing with those from other nations and developing a preference for their slang, a trend by which US English (formal & informal) has influenced the language for well over a century.
1960 Volkswagen Type 2 with factory-ordered Westfalia conversion SO23 (camper with small roof hatch) in Sealing Wax Red and Beige Grey over gray vinyl and plaid cloth upholstery. The clamshell light sconces are original Westfalia part numbers but the switches are after-market.
Part of Westfalia’s SO23 conversion package was a pair of interior lamps with clamshell sconces, described by the company as providing “a warm light”. The Volkswagen Type 2 (sometimes referred to generically as “Microbus” or “Kombi” although those were specific variants) played a role in post-war culture on both sides of the Atlantic and the most desirable of the classic, early “split screen” (1950–1967 (and built in Brazil 1953–1975)) models such as the 21 & 23 window “Sambas” have become a cult and in the bubble market which inflated in the immediate post-pandemic period, some restored examples sold at auction for over US$200,000. The VW originality police are no less exacting than those who examine Ferraris, Jaguars or Corvettes and they can tell the difference between a light’s original clamshell sconce and one of the 3D-printed reproductions now available. The original, delicate, switches have for years been unobtainium and the usual replacement is the “Euro-type” push-button units once common on bedside table-lamps.
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