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Lance   /læns/   Listen
noun
Lance  n.  
1.
A weapon of war, consisting of a long shaft or handle and a steel blade or head; a spear carried by horsemen, and often decorated with a small flag; also, a spear or harpoon used by whalers and fishermen. "A braver soldier never couched lance."
2.
A soldier armed with a lance; a lancer.
3.
(Founding) A small iron rod which suspends the core of the mold in casting a shell.
4.
(Mil.) An instrument which conveys the charge of a piece of ordnance and forces it home.
5.
(Pyrotech.) One of the small paper cases filled with combustible composition, which mark the outlines of a figure.
6.
(Med.) A lancet.
Free lance, in the Middle Ages, and subsequently, a knight or roving soldier, who was free to engage for any state or commander that purchased his services; hence, a person who assails institutions or opinions on his own responsibility without regard to party lines or deference to authority. See also freelance, n. and a., and freelancer.
Lance bucket (Cavalry), a socket attached to a saddle or stirrup strap, in which to rest the but of a lance.
Lance corporal, same as Lancepesade.
Lance knight, a lansquenet.
Lance snake (Zool.), the fer-de-lance.
Stink-fire lance (Mil.), a kind of fuse filled with a composition which burns with a suffocating odor; used in the counter operations of miners.
To break a lance, to engage in a tilt or contest.


verb
Lance  v. t.  (past & past part. lanced; pres. part. lancing)  
1.
To pierce with a lance, or with any similar weapon. "Seized the due victim, and with fury lanced Her back."
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. See Lanch.





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Lance" Quotes from Famous Books



... door rode Sir Niels, Ne’er from that withdrew his look; Thrice thereon with iron lance Heavily ...
— Niels Ebbesen and Germand Gladenswayne - two ballads - - - Translator: George Borrow • Thomas J. Wise
... Dukla to Uzsok was ablaze—the storm was spreading eastward. Like huge ant hills the mountains swarmed with gray and bluish specks—each a human being—some to the waist in snow, stabbing and hacking at each other ferociously with bayonet, sword, or lance, others pouring deadly fire from rifle, revolver, machine gun, and heavy artillery. Over rocks slippery with blood, through cruel barbed-wire entanglements and into crowded trenches the human masses dash and scramble. Here, with heavy toll, they advanced; there, and with costlier ...
— The Story of the Great War, Volume III (of VIII) - History of the European War from Official Sources • Various
... Armed at every point, On his war-horse mounted, The gallant Briador; His good sword Durlindana Girded to his side, Couched for the attack his lance, On his arm his buckler stout, Through his helmet's visor Flashing fire he came; Quivering like a slender reed Shaken by the wind his lance, And all the ...
— Dona Perfecta • B. Perez Galdos
... short pause, "Pa shot him one big buck as was ridin' straight into th' Ranger line, wantin' to count one o' them coups by whangin' some white man personal with his lance, or some such foolishness. This buck had him a war shield an' Pa picked it up when all th' smoke blew away. What'd' you think that there shield was packed with? Well, this one had a book all tore apart an' stuffed in between th' front an' back layers of hide. Th' boys in th' company, ...
— Rebel Spurs • Andre Norton
... the doll of dolls, and won francs and fame. Or, being a French-Flemish youth, I might have been drawn in a hand-cart by my compeers, to tilt for municipal rewards at the water-quintain; which, unless I sent my lance clean through the ring, emptied a full bucket over me; to fend off which, the competitors wore grotesque old scarecrow hats. Or, being French-Flemish man or woman, boy or girl, I might have circled all night ...
— The Uncommercial Traveller • Charles Dickens


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