neep lantern

neep lantern

English

Noun

neep lantern (plural neep lanterns)

1. (Scotland) A lantern made from a hollowed-out turnip, traditionally used as decoration at Halloween.
   • 1873, Thomas Watson, Homely Pearls at Random Strung, p. 270:

     A third was a two-headed spectre, the upper one being a fiery head, that bore a suspicious resemblance to a neep lantern, and his body, or what should have been his body, was wrapped in a while sheet.

   • 2003, Heather Spears, The Flourish, p. 347:

     A neep lantern bobbing by the end of the palisade, near the Smith house, where a clutch of bairns stood in the footpath waiting for him.

   • 2013, David M Addison, Confessions of a Banffshire Loon, p. 288:

     He always finished first in the annual Hallowe'en neep lantern competition though it was meant to be done by the pupils themselves.