%sconce%

n. Want of concert; disagreement. Sir W. Temple. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. hard to deal with; causing uncertainty or confusion about how to act or react.
Syn. -- awkward, embarrassing, off-putting, sticky, tight, unenviable. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. The act of disconcerting, or state of being disconcerted; discomposure; perturbation. [ R. ] State Trials (1794). [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Ensconced imp. & p. p. Ensconcing ] To cover or shelter, as with a sconce or fort; to place or hide securely; to conceal. [ 1913 Webster ]

She shall not see me: I will ensconce me behind the arras. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. See Ensconce. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Misconception. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. & i. [ imp. & p. p. Misconceived p. pr. & vb. n. Misconceiving. ] To conceive wrongly; to interpret incorrectly; to receive a false notion of; to misunderstand; to misjudge; to misapprehend. [ 1913 Webster ]

Those things which, for want of due consideration heretofore, they have misconceived. Hooker. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- To misapprehend; misunderstand; mistake. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who misconceives. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Erroneous conception; false opinion; wrong understanding. Harvey. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

No sconce or fortress of his raising was ever known either to have been forced, or yielded up, or quitted. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A hut for protection and shelter; a stall. [ 1913 Webster ]

One that . . . must raise a sconce by the highway and sell switches. Beau. & Fl. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A piece of armor for the head; headpiece; helmet. [ 1913 Webster ]

I must get a sconce for my head. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Fig.: The head; the skull; also, brains; sense; discretion. [ Colloq. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

To knock him about the sconce with a dirty shovel. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. A poll tax; a mulct or fine. Johnson. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

Tapers put into lanterns or sconces of several-colored, oiled paper, that the wind might not annoy them. Evelyn. [ 1913 Webster ]

Golden sconces hang not on the walls. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. Hence, the circular tube, with a brim, in a candlestick, into which the candle is inserted. [ 1913 Webster ]

8. (Arch.) A squinch. [ 1913 Webster ]

9. A fragment of a floe of ice. Kane. [ 1913 Webster ]

10. [ Perhaps a different word. ] A fixed seat or shelf. [ Prov. Eng. ] [ 1913 Webster ]