sconce
Also found in: Dictionary, Thesaurus, Wikipedia.
sconce
a flat candlestick with a handle
Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005
Sconce
An electric lamp, designed and fabricated for mounting on a wall, resembling a candlestick or a group of candlesticks.
Illustrated Dictionary of Architecture Copyright © 2012, 2002, 1998 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved
sconce
1. An electric lamp, resembling a candlestick or a group of candlesticks, which is designed and fabricated for mounting on a wall.
2. In medieval architecture, a detached earth-work, 2 that serves as a small defensive position, providing additional protection for a fort.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Architecture and Construction. Copyright © 2003 by McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.
Sconce
(in Russian, bra; from the French bras), a wall light fixture. Candelabra have been given a variety of artistic treatments (often with wall mirror reflectors). They have been made of copper, bronze, Venetian glass, and wood with levkas from the 17th to the beginning of the 19th century for palace interiors in baroque, rococco, classical, and Empire styles. Simply designed electric wall lamps, made of old materials used in novel ways as well as of the newest materials, are widely used today.
The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.