Entry · Friday, October 23, 2026
Plate CXLVIII. Carved pumpkin jack-o'-lantern sitting on flat stones outdoors.
Photo by David Trinks on Unsplash
Jack-o'-Lantern
/JAK-oh-lan-tern/ n.- 1. A field pumpkin of sufficient equatorial girth, carved into a seasonal effigy and illuminated from within; esp. one whose uncarved posterior, viewed in raking autumn light, retains the full, unedited silhouette of the source specimen and suggests the sculptor exercised considerable restraint in choosing which face to work on.
- 2. colloq. Seasonal gourd art that committed everything to the back half. The front got a triangle nose. The rear got all the prayers of a long summer.
"The thiccc jack-o'-lantern on the Kowalski front stoop had to be carried in from the car on a furniture dolly. The carved face looked like an afterthought; the real statement was the other side."
From Jack (familiar form of John, used in English folklore for unnamed or everyman figures, attested from the 14th century) and lantern (from Old French lanterne, from Latin lanterna, itself from Greek lampter, 'torch'). The name originally referred to the ignis fatuus, the will-o'-the-wisp, a pale light haunting marshes at night. Somewhere between the bog and the county fair weigh-in, the gourd got involved.
Filed by
The furniture dolly is in the example sentence and I am not explaining further.
Ruling PROVISIONAL
The uncarved posterior is described as retaining the full, unedited silhouette. Pending confirmation the dolly was load-bearing and not decorative.
In the margin
The sculptor chose a face and left the entire back half completely untouched, which means the back half won the negotiation.