jack-o'-lantern

American  

[jak-uh-lan-tern] / ˈdʒæk əˌlæn tərn /

noun

1. a hollowed pumpkin with openings cut to represent human eyes, nose, and mouth and in which a candle or other light may be placed, traditionally made for display at Halloween.

2. a commercially made lantern resembling this.

3. any phenomenon of light, as a corona discharge or an ignis fatuus.

4. a poisonous luminescent orange fungus, Omphalotus olearius, often found in clusters at the base of hardwood tree stumps.

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jack-o'-lantern British  

noun

1. a lantern made from a hollowed pumpkin, which has holes cut in it to represent a human face

2. a will-o'-the-wisp or similar phenomenon

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Etymology

Origin of jack-o'-lantern

First recorded in 1655–65

Example Sentences

And one of the stories has a little girl we're introduced to her because she was invited to a jack o' lantern carving party, but she carved too many because she got too into it.

From Salon • May 14, 2023

We see a jack o’ lantern at least once, and Don makes reference to the breaking of the land speed record, which happened in Utah that month.

From New York Times • May 18, 2015

The light of a jack o' lantern is not of the earth earthy.

From The Siege of the Seven Suitors by Nicholson, Meredith

It appeared and disappeared, like a jack o' lantern, but always it moved southward, obscured every few feet by an intervening trunk or a clump of brush.

From Viola Gwyn by McCutcheon, George Barr

It was at this strategic moment that Hezekiah pushed into the middle of the stile-platform, its grinning face turned toward the advancing suitors, the jack o' lantern her hand had fashioned.

From The Siege of the Seven Suitors by Nicholson, Meredith

Related Words

• fruit
• squash