Lance /(lăns)/

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. A small iron rod which suspends the core of the mold in casting a shell. (Founding)
  4. An instrument which conveys the charge of a piece of ordnance and forces it home. (Mil.)
  5. One of the small paper cases filled with combustible composition, which mark the outlines of a figure. (Pyrotech.)
  6. A lancet. (Med.)

Phrases & Compounds
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
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
the fer-de-lance.
Stink-fire lance
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.

Lance

v. t.

imp. & p. p. Lanced; p. pr. & vb. n. 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.