I. ˈlan(t)s, -aa(ə)-, -ai-, -ȧ- noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English launce, from Old French lance, from Latin lancea
1. : a weapon of war consisting of a long shaft with a sharp steel head and carried by mounted knights or light cavalry
2.
a. : lancet 2
b. : a spear with a sharp point and keen cutting edges used by whalers ; also : a similar implement for spearing fish
c. : a small implement used in the Eastern Orthodox Church to cut particles from loaves of altar bread
d. : a pointed blade or tooth in a router or other tool for cutting the grain along or around the path of the tool
3.
a. : a medieval military unit comprising a knight and his retinue
b. : a soldier armed with a lance : lancer
4. obsolete : a shoot of a tree
5. : a small iron rod that suspends the core of a foundry mold in casting a shell
6. : one of the small paper cases filled with combustible composition used especially for marking the outlines of a fireworks set piece
7. : oxygen lance
II. verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
Etymology: Middle English launcen, from Middle French lancier, lancer, from Late Latin lanceare to handle a lance, pierce with a lance, from Latin lancea lance
transitive verb
1. : to pierce with a lance or similar weapon
2. : to open with or as if with a lancet : to make an incision in or into
lance a boil
lance a vein
3. : launch , hurl , fling
signal lamps lanced spreading cones — Wirt Williams
lance himself short and straight, lower the muleta so the bull would follow it, and … put the sword in — Ernest Hemingway
intransitive verb
: to move forward by or as if by cutting one's way
bombers would buzz overhead and lance toward shore — Norman Mailer
tanks lanced on into the German bulge — Time
III.
variant of launce