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Jack-o'-lantern   /dʒæk-oʊ-lˈæntərn/   Listen
noun
Jack-with-a-lantern, Jack-o'-lantern  n.  
1.
(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.
Synonyms: jack-a-lantern, Clitocybe illudens.
2.
A pale light sometimes seen at night over marshy ground; an ignis fatuus; a will-o'-the-wisp. "(Newspaper speculations) supplying so many more jack-o'-lanterns to the future historian."
Synonyms: friar's lantern, ignis fatuus, will-o'-the-wisp.
3.
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.





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Jack-o'-lantern" Quotes from Famous Books



... tortured by their words. Troffater knew not where to turn his little earthen eyes, for fear of encountering accusers; and he fixed them on the moon, and whistled a snatch or two of his addicted music; then bit his lips, and blowed, and hitched around on his seat, and blushed like a jack-o'-lantern. ...
— Summerfield - or, Life on a Farm • Day Kellogg Lee
... without force of arms. I am aware that general disarmament is not popular among statesmen, that it has been denounced by an eminent authority as a "will-o'-the wisp", that arbitration has been styled a "Jack-o'-lantern", but this is not the first time a good and workable scheme has been branded with opprobrious names. The abolition of slavery was at one time considered to be an insane man's dream; now all people believe in it. Will the twentieth century ...
— America Through the Spectacles of an Oriental Diplomat • Wu Tingfang


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