jack-o'-lantern
Americannoun
-
jack-o'-lanterns
plural
-
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.
-
a commercially made lantern resembling this.
-
any phenomenon of light, as a corona discharge or an ignis fatuus.
-
a poisonous luminescent orange fungus, Omphalotus olearius, often found in clusters at the base of hardwood tree stumps.
noun
-
a lantern made from a hollowed pumpkin, which has holes cut in it to represent a human face
-
a will-o'-the-wisp or similar phenomenon
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of jack-o'-lantern
First recorded in 1655–65
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
“I’m David Pumpkins,” Hanks — dressed in a jack-o'-lantern suit — announced to cheers from the crowd.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 30, 2022
The aquatic jack-o’-lantern tradition is part of that.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 26, 2022
Rain falling on your jack-o’-lantern will invite every mold in the neighborhood to take up residency in or on it.
From Scientific American ● Oct. 19, 2022
Prepare one in the usual way by cutting off the top and scooping out the inside, but instead of carving the pumpkin into a jack-o'-lantern, plop a jar with water and flowers inside.
From Salon ● Nov. 19, 2021
Dimly lit by a distant streetlight, two flashlights, and a jack-o’-lantern, it was almost too fascinating to bear.
From "The Egypt Game" by Zilpha Keatley Snyder
That farm grows pumpkins on 500 acres, mostly for decorations like jack-o’-lanterns.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 23, 2026
He is broken crayons and petting zoos and plastic jack-o'-lanterns stuffed with candy.
From Salon ● Feb. 3, 2024
Are those blazing jack-o’-lanterns on the road or did 5,000 pumpkins go up in flames on the 5 Freeway?
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 25, 2023
I had gotten up early on that Saturday to hang orange streamers and balloons shaped like jack-o’-lanterns and black cats from my apartment walls.
From Washington Post ● Nov. 29, 2022
And if trees could grin like jack-o’-lanterns with bad intentions, that’s what Paulie T. would have been doing right then.
From "Ida B" by Katherine Hannigan
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
