sconce/skɒns/EtymologyFrom Middle English sconce, sconse (“candlestick or lantern (with screen)”), from Old French esconse (“lantern”), from Latin absconsus (“hidden”), perfect passive participle of abscondō (“hide”). Cognate with abscond.nounA fixture for a light, which holds it and provides a screen against wind or against a naked flame or lightbulb.“[…]tapers put into lanterns or sconces of several-coloured, oiled paper, that the wind might not annoy them.”A fixture for a light, which holds it and provides a screen against wind or against a naked flame or lightbulb.; A candlestick (holder for a candle, especially a circular tube, with a brim, into which a candle is inserted), either with a handle for carrying, or with a bracket for attaching to a wall.“Taking the candle […] she stood with the little flat brass sconce in her hand.”A head or a skull.“Novv as I am a Chriſtian anſvver me, / In vvhat ſafe place you haue beſtovv'd my monie; / Or I ſhall breake that merrie ſconce of yours / That ſtands on tricks, vvhen I am vndiſpos'd: / VVhere is the thouſand Markes thou hadſt of me?”A poll tax; a mulct or fine.“I'll gladly pay a sconce”An act of sconcing; very similar to a fine at Cambridge University, though a sconce is the act of issuing a penalty rather than the penalty itself.“.”A type of small fort or other fortification, especially as built to defend a pass or ford.“No sconce or fortress of his raising was ever known either to have been forced, or yielded up, or quitted.”verbTo impose a fine, a forfeit, or a mulct.“The Rector sconced him in the buttery-book, but Webberly “wiped it off, with irreverent and unbeseeming language.” For this, he had to apologise, and go without his commons for three months.”During a meal or as part of a drinking game, to announce some (usually outrageous) deed such that anyone who has done it must drink; similar to I have never; commonly associated with crewdates; very similar to fining at Cambridge University.“I sconce anyone who has ever…”To shut within a sconce; to imprison.