jack o'lantern

Noun

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.
   • 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
   1. A similar item made from a turnip.
2. (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

   Synonyms:

   ignis fatuus, hinkypunk, Joan the wad, hobby lantern, peg-a-lantern, Will the Smith, Pinket, Will o' the Wikes, Jack-with-a-lantern