Definition of "lanterne" [lanterne]

• A long-handled copper ladle used to convey powder to the bottom of the bore of a mortar or other piece of ordnance. (noun)

The Century Dictionary (Public Domain)

• "A curious feature found in many churchyards from the twelfth to the fourteenth century, especially in France, is the so-called lanterne des morts, a stone erection sometimes twenty or thirty feet high, surmounted by a lantern and presenting a general resemblance to a small lighthouse."
• "Otherwise I would pine for the Tour de France, that annual celebration of mountain-top lunacy, in which one can flash one's vocabulary — peloton, poursuivants, lanterne rouge — with gay abandon."
• "Tony Martin (HTC-Columbia) took second at 19 seconds with teammate Bert Grabsch — the lanterne rouge — third at 1: 48."