Brewer's: Lanternise

Spending one's time in learned trifles; darkening counsel by words; mystifying the more by attempting to unravel mysteries, putting truths into a lantern through which, at best, we see but darkly. When monks bring their hoods over their faces “to meditate,” they are said by the French to lanternise, because they look like the tops of lanterns; but the result of their meditations is that of a “brown study,” or “fog of sleepy thought.” (See above.)

Related Content Allusions Foreign Words and Phrases Latin and Greek Word Elements Names: Their Origins and Meanings Old Testament Names Mythology Ancient Greek Literature & Mythology The Bible (King James version) The Koran (translation by J. M. Rodwell) Shakespeare's Plays Tales from Shakespeare (Charles and Mary Lamb) Frequently Misspelled Words Frequently Mispronounced Words Easily Confused Words Writing & Language