neep lantern

plural neep lanterns

1. ScotlandA lantern made from a hollowed-out turnip, traditionally used as decoration at Halloween.

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

   2013, David M Addison, Confessions of a Banffshire Loon, page 288

   2 more examples

   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.

   1873, Thomas Watson, Homely Pearls at Random Strung, page 270

   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.

   2003, Heather Spears, The Flourish, page 347

   Synonyms: tumshie lantern