Polyseme

Brekkie
Breakfast out with my land rover friend in a cool (new for us ) venue in Newark I'd picked today. 

I had smashed avocado, poached eggs and lightly spiced roasted tomatoes on brioche (substituted for muffin on my request). I felt confident is insisting that toasted brioche could safely be swapped in. 

It still took me around 50 minutes to eat (even with brioche).

Sconce
Thanks for those that shared their interest and thoughts on "Sconce" yesterday. In broad terms it can mean:

* Lantern, wall fitting for a light or candle, 
* Earthworks/brushwood
* Crown/top of head, wit
* University fines including those involving drinking.

and is derived from:

esconce (french)
shans (dutch)
shantz (german) - as Tagimo commented


I rather like the act of sconcing.

    ~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Definitions extract as per -
Shorter Oxford English Dictionary
on historical principles
Fifth edition (2002)
Volume 2 . N-Z

sconce/skons/noun¹. LME.
 
[Aphet. from Old French esconse hiding place, lantern, or from medieval Latin sconsa aphet. from absconsa (sc. laterna) dark (lantern), use as noun of fem. pa. pple of abscondere hide: see ABSCOND.]
 
†1 A lantern or candlestick with a screen to protect the light from the wind, and a handle for carrying. LME-M18.
b A flat candlestick with a handle. M19.

2 A bracket for a candle or a light hung on or fixed to an interior wall; esp. an ornamental bracket for holding one or more candles etc. LME.
3 A street lamp or lantern attached to an exterior wall. rare. M19.
2J. D. MACDONALD The .. wall sconces held orange bulbs with orange shades.

sconce/skons/noun². LME.
[Dutch schans, †schantze brushwood, screen of brushwood for defence, earthwork of gabions, from Middle & mod. High German schanze, of unkn. origin. In sense 1 perh. from prec.]
1 A screen, an interior partition. Now dial. LME.

2 A small fort or earthwork, esp. one defending a ford, pass, etc. L16.

3 A screen or shelter affording protection from the weather, offering concealment, etc. obsolete exc. Scot. L16.

4 A fixed seat at the side of a fireplace. Scot. & dial. L18.

5 In full sconce-piece. An ice floe, a water-washed iceberg. M19.

2 fig.: T. FULLER One of the best bulwarks and sconces of Soveraignty. †build a sconce slang run up a score at an inn etc. 3 A. GORDON The fervent Heat of the Sun made some kind of Sconce.. necessary.

sconce/skons/ noun³. joc. arch. M16.
[Perh. joc. use of SCONCE noun¹.]

The head, esp. the crown or top of the head; transf. sense,brains, wit.

Century Magazine If she.. showed any sconce for the business.

sconce/skpns/ verb¹ trans. Now rare. L16.
[Partly from SCONCE noun², partly aphet. from ENSCONCE.]
1 Fortify, entrench. Also, shelter, protect. L16.

†2 Hide, screen from view. Only in M17.

3 ENSCONCE 3. M19.

sconce/skons/verb2 & noun+. Chiefly Oxford Univ. slang. E17.
[Origin uncertain: perh. from SCONCE noun³.]

A verb trans. 1 Orig., fine (a person) for a breach of college or university discipline. Now (of undergraduates dining in hall), challenge (a fellow undergraduate) to drink a tankard of beer etc. at one draught, as a penalty for a breach of etiquette or other minor misdemeanour.

E17.

2 gen. Fine, M17.

1 Etonian Hall dinner. Was sconced in a quart of ale for quoting Latin. 2 J. MORLEY A new minister, who.. did not shrink from sconcing the powerful landed phalanx.


►B noun. 1 An act of sconcing; a tankard or mug used for this. M17.

†2 A fine. L17-E18.