lance1

[lans, lahns] /læns, lɑns/
noun
1.
a long wooden shaft with a pointed metal head, used as a weapon by knights and cavalry soldiers in charging.
2.
a cavalry soldier armed with such a weapon; lancer.
3.
an implement resembling the weapon, as a spear for killing a harpooned whale.
4.
(initial capital letter) Military. a U.S. Army surface-to-surface rocket with a range of 47 miles (75 km) and capable of carrying a tactical nuclear warhead.
5.
a lancet.
6.
oxygen lance.
7.
Machinery.
  1. a tube having a nozzle for cleaning furnace walls and other inaccessible surfaces with air, water, or steam.
  2. a pipe for directing oxygen onto a heated metal object in order to burn a hole in it, the lance also being consumed so as to add to the heat.
verb (used with object), lanced, lancing.
8.
to open with or as if with a lancet.
9.
to pierce with a lance.
10.
to cut through (concrete or the like) with an oxygen lance.
Origin
1250-1300; Middle English launce < Old French lance < Latin lancea (perhaps < Celtic)
Related forms
lancelike, adjective
unlanced, adjective

lance2

[lans, lahns] /læns, lɑns/
noun
1.
sand lance.
Origin
perhaps special use of lance1, from its shape

Lance

[lans] /læns/
noun
1.
a male given name.
Examples from the web for lance
  • In final fantasy iv, one of the characters, kain, uses a lance as his primary weapon.
British Dictionary definitions for lance

lance

/lɑːns/
noun
1.
a long weapon with a pointed head used by horsemen to unhorse or injure an opponent
2.
a similar weapon used for hunting, whaling, etc
3.
(surgery) another name for lancet
4.
the sand lance See sand eel
verb (transitive)
5.
to pierce (an abscess or boil) with a lancet to drain off pus
6.
to pierce with or as if with a lance
Word Origin
C13 launce, from Old French lance, from Latin lancea
Word Origin and History for lance
n.

late 13c. (late 12c. as a surname), from Old French lance (12c.), from Latin lancea "light spear, Spanish lance" (Italian lancia, Spanish lanza), possibly of Celt-Iberian origin. The French word spread into Germanic (cf. German Lanze, Middle Dutch lanse, Dutch lans, Danish landse). Lance corporal (1786) is from obsolete lancepesade "officer of lowest rank" (1570s), from Old Italian lancia spezzata "old soldier," literally "broken lance."

v.

"to pierce with a lance," c.1300, from Old French lancier, from Late Latin lanceare "wield a lance; pierce with a lance," from lancea (see lance (n.)). The surgical sense (properly with reference to a lancet) is from late 15c. Related: Lanced; lancing.

lance in Medicine

lance (lāns)
n.
See lancet. v. lanced, lanc·ing, lanc·es
To make an incision in, as with a lancet.

lance in Technology


Local Area Network Controller for Ethernet.
The alternative name for the Am7990 integrated circuit used in a Filtabyte Ethernet controller card.
(1995-02-15)

Encyclopedia Article for lance

spear used by cavalry for mounted combat. It usually consisted of a long wooden shaft with a sharp metal point. Its employment can be traced to the ancient Assyrians and Egyptians, and it was widely used by the Greeks and Romans, despite their lack of the stirrup, which did not appear until the 6th century AD

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