jack-o'-lantern
nounUK /ˈdʒæk.əʊˌlæn.tən/ · US /ˈdʒæk.oʊˌlæn.təɹn/
Etymology Originally, a night watchman who carried a lantern (originally made from a turnip; see neep lantern). See Jack. First 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 a carved pumpkin (sense 1) is first attested in 1834.
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.
- 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)2001, Joyce Carol Oates, Middle Age: A Romance, paperback edition, page 218:
2
A similar item made from a turnip.
3
Archaic A will o' the wisp.
- [Newspaper speculations] supplying so many more jack-o'-lanterns to the future historian1871, James Russell Lowell, “My Study Windows”, in My Garden Acquaintance: