LANCE • DICCIONARIO INGLES.COM • Definition of Lance

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/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.

See images of 'Lance'

Etymology of 'Lance'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Lance" Quotes from Famous Books

... tears!" Such were the sounds that o'er the crested pride Of the first Edward scattered wild dismay, As down the steep of Snowdon's{5} shaggy side He wound with toilsome march his long array. Stout Gloster{6} stood aghast in speechless trance: "To arms!" cried Mortimer,{7} and couched his quivering lance. ...

— Six Centuries of English Poetry - Tennyson to Chaucer • James Baldwin

... the bonny mangonel upon the place, and shoot him if he dare to stir from the spot where he stands till we get all prepared to receive him," said Flammock in his native language. "And, Neil, thou houndsfoot, bestir thyself—let every pike, lance, and pole in the castle be ranged along the battlements, and pointed through the shot-holes—cut up some tapestry into the shape of banners, and show them from the highest towers.—Be ready when I give a signal, to strike naker, ...

— The Betrothed • Sir Walter Scott

... began. At first the knights strove with blunted swords and battle-axes; then they ran their course with lances man to man; but at last they divided into two equal parties, and a general assault began, in which every one was allowed to use at his own will either sword or lance. Froda and Edwald equally surpassed their antagonists, as (measuring each his own strength and that of his friend) they had foreseen. And now it must be decided by a single combat with lances to whom the highest prize of victory should belong. Before ...

— Aslauga's Knight • Friedrich de la Motte Fouque

... the battle of Hastings. You all know what befell upon that day; and how the old weapon was matched against the new—the English axe against the Norman lance—and beaten only because the English broke their ranks. If you wish to refresh your memories, read the tale once more in Mr. Freeman's "History of England," or Professor Creasy's "Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World," or even, best of all, the late Lord Lytton's splendid romance of ...

— Historical Lectures and Essays • Charles Kingsley

... Bedford whaler which had touched at one of the Puget Sound ports. The whaler went up to a part of Alaska where bears were very plentiful and bold. One day a couple of boats' crews landed; and the men, who were armed only with an occasional harpoon or lance, scattered over the beach, one of them, a Frenchman, wading into the water after shell-fish. Suddenly a bear emerged from some bushes and charged among the astonished sailors, who scattered in every direction; but the bear, said Woody, "just ...

— Hunting the Grisly and Other Sketches • Theodore Roosevelt

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