• Lance

    Pronunciation

    • RP enPR: läns, IPA: /lɑːns/
    • US enPR: lăns, IPA: /læns/
    • Rhymes: -ɑːns

    Origin

    From Old French lance, from Latin lancea.

    Full definition of lance

    Noun

    lance

    (plural lances)
    1. A weapon of war, consisting of a long shaft or handle and a steel blade or head; a spear carried by horsemen.
    2. A wooden spear, sometimes hollow, used in jousting or tilting, designed to shatter on impact with the opposing knight’s armour.
    3. (fishing) A spear or harpoon used by whalers and fishermen.
    4. (military) A soldier armed with a lance; a lancer.
    5. (military) An instrument which conveys the charge of a piece of ordnance and forces it home.
    6. (founding) A small iron rod which suspends the core of the mold in casting a shell.
    7. (pyrotechnics) One of the small paper cases filled with combustible composition, which mark the outlines of a figure.
    8. (medicine) A lancet.

    Related terms

    Verb

    1. To pierce with a lance, or with any similar weapon.Seized the due victim, and with fury lanced Her back. Dryden.
    2. To open with a lancet; to pierce; as, to lance a vein or an abscess.
    3. To throw in the manner of a lance; to lanch.

    Anagrams

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