Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A lantern made from a hollowed pumpkin with a carved face, usually displayed on Halloween.
- n. See ignis fatuus.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. Same as ignis fatuus, or will-o'-the-wisp.
- n. A lantern used in children's play, made of the rind of a pumpkin or of a similar vegetable, in which incisions are made to represent eyes, nose, and mouth; a pumpkin-lantern.
Wiktionary
- n. A carved pumpkin whose top and stem have been cut out and interior removed, leaving a hollow shell that is then decorated to represent a face, illuminated from within by a candle.
- n. archaic A will o' the wisp
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. (Biol.) A large orange-colored luminescent mushroom, Clitocybe illudens, also classified as Omphalotus olearius. It is poisonous and is sometimes found on hardwood tree stumps.
- n. a pale light sometimes seen at night over marshy ground; an ignis fatuus; a will-o'-the-wisp.
- n. A lantern carved from a hollowed-out pumpkin, with holes cut in the rind and so shaped that when it is illuminated by a candle inside, the features of a human face, cat's face, etc. appear in a glowing yellow color. It is used mostly as a decoration at Halloween.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a pale light sometimes seen at night over marshy ground
- n. lantern carved from a pumpkin
- n. a large poisonous agaric with orange caps and narrow clustered stalks; the gills are luminescent
Etymologies
- Originally, a night watchman who carried a lantern. (See Jack) (Wiktionary)
- From earlier Jack-with-a-lantern, man with a lantern, will-o'-the-wisp. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“And speaking of Halloween decorations, we like this Metro-themed jack-o'-lantern courtesy of Greater Greater Washington.”
The Washington Post: Giant spiders, eyeball-tinis: D.C's blogs
“If that's you, feel free to stop carving your jack-o'-lantern for just a moment, because you'll want to hear this.”
The Washington Post: National Christmas Tree to light up the Ellipse on Dec. 9
“We left the house with no particular destination in mind, but as Spooky was pulling out of the drive, I spotted our jack-o'-lantern, still on the stoop.”
"The Belated Burial," Shaharrazad and Kalií, Second Best Rocks, and Arcana
“Damn, I just realized I didn't upload photos of our jack-o'-lantern.”
"We're just a million little gods causing rainstorms, turning every good thing to rust."
“And I have a few photographs, as promised, of this year's jack-o'-lantern, which is, by the way, the first I ever carved in New England (though, Spooky did the mouth, as I was impatient):”
“I carried my first New England jack-o'-lantern out onto the bridge, held it over the abyss, and dropped it into the tea-colored, tannin-stained water ten or so feet below.”
"The Belated Burial," Shaharrazad and Kalií, Second Best Rocks, and Arcana
“Describing herself as "borderline obsessed" with snot otters, she says, "I have gone so far as to carve a hellbender shape in my jack-o'-lantern every year" at Halloween.”
The Wall Street Journal: Green Movement's New Mascot: the Slimy Snot Otter
“When's the last time you saw a jack-o'-lantern carved in the shape of a BMW?”
The Washington Post: Evolutionary psychology explores ancient and newer roots of instinctual fears
“HALLOWEEN ON ELLSWORTH, costume contests, create-your-own jack-o'-lantern, a hay maze, face painting, treats, make-your-own edible ghost or broomstick, a moon bounce, pie-eating contest and more. 2-5 p.m.,”
The Washington Post: Montgomery County community calendar, Oct. 28-Nov. 4, 2010
“My first day of kindergarten, I drew a black jack-o'-lantern with white freckles.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘jack-o'-lantern’.
-
Hyphen Nation
Terms with multiple hyphens, such as rent-a-crowd. Not intended to be a see-how-many-words-one-can-string-together-with-hyphens-used-adjectively sort of list.
much-talked-of, vis-à-vis, tête-à-tête, rope-a-dope, will-o'-the-wisp, dick-a-tuesday, will-in-the-wisp, jack-o'-lantern, jack-with-a-lantern, ear-to-ear, whack-a-mole, no-man's-land and 205 more...
-
Mycology
basidiomycete, initiation, fungus, shiitake, inoculum, substrate, fruit body, mycelium, hyphal growth, oyster, spawn run, polypore and 207 more...
-
Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11184 more...
-
October 2011
serendipity, grateful, irritable, punchy, twitchy, reverence, solitude, levity, nubble, sojourn, Eden, quesadilla and 19 more...
-
♥
ambrosia, inamorata, gossamer, lily-white, hummingbird, roucoulement, poppy, daisy, calypso, lunula, lamb, dove and 1526 more...
-
tom, dick and harry
merry andrew, spotted dick, black jack, lazy susan, bloody mary, charley horse, doubting thomas, willy nilly, jolly roger, peg leg, catherine wheel, charlotte russe and 156 more...
-
Hyphenated Actual Words
These kind of stun me whenever I see them. Language is just so cool.
chuck-will's-widow, will-o-the-wisp, saw-whet, topsy-turvy, linsey-woolsey, ne'er-do-well, gung-ho, so-so, cul-de-sac, fleur-de-lys, service-berry, major-domo and 33 more...
-
pippiiiy
je ne sais quoi, hortus siccus, jack-o'-lantern, fleur-de-lys, doppelganger, il faut que le pr..., flibbertigibbet, syzygy, callipygian, hobbledehoy, gobbledygook, grandiloquent and 5 more...
-
O'-ho
tam-o'-shanter, jack-o'-lantern, man-o'-war, will-o'-the-wisp, light-o'-love, cat-o'-nine-tails, hop-o'-my-thumb, tom o' bedlam, bess o' bedlam, john o' groats, five o'clock shadow, o'dark thirty and 25 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for jack-o'-lantern.
oroboros Guiness Book of World Records shortest time to carve one? 54.72 seconds (2001) --via NPR's Says You Oct 29, 2011