jack-o'-lantern

• jack-o-lantern, jack o'lantern, Jack O'Lantern

Originally, a night watchman who carried a lantern. (See Jack.)

Attested as a term for ignis fatuus in English folklore in the 1660s, mostly in East Anglia but also in southwestern England. The sense of carved pumpkin in American English is attested in 1834.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈdʒæk.əʊˌlæn.tən/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈdʒæk.oʊˌlæn.tɚn/, /ˈdʒæk.əˌlæn.tɚn/

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jack-o'-lantern (plural jack-o'-lanterns)

1. A carved pumpkin whose top and stem have been cut out and interior removed, leaving a hollow shell that is then decorated to represent a face, illuminated from within by a candle. It is a symbol of Halloween.
   1. A similar item made from a turnip
2. (archaic) A will o' the wisp.
   • 1871, James Russell Lowell, “My Study Windows”, in My Garden Acquaintance:

     [newspaper speculations] supplying so many more jack-o'-lanterns to the future historian

• 2001, Joyce Carol Oates, Middle Age: A Romance, paperback edition, page 218:

  He had a jocose jack-o'-lantern grin, big crooked nicotine-stained teeth, and a full droopy dark moustache and wiry whiskers hiding a weak chin. (attributive use)

• (strange light): ignis fatuus, will o' the wisp, hinkypunk (West Country), Joan the wad (West Country), hobby lantern, (Hertfordshire, East Anglia), peg-a-lantern (Lancashire), Will the Smith (Shropshire), Pinket (Worcestershire), Will o' the Wikes (Norfolk), Jack-with-a-lantern (archaic)

• will o' the wisp