English

Pronunciation

• lăns, /læns/, /l{ns/

Noun

lance (plural lances)

1. (Weapon) A weapon of war, consisting of a long shaft or handle and a steel blade or head; a spear carried by horsemen .

   Quotations

   • 1590: Thy brother's blood the thirsty earth hath drunk, Broach'd with the steely point of Clifford's lance... — William Shakespeare, Henry VI, Part III, Act II, Scene III, line 15.
   • 1909: The head of the lance was commonly of the leaf form, and sometimes approached that of the lozenge ; it was very seldom barbed, although this variety, together with the others, appears upon the Bayeux Tapestry . — Charles Henry Ashdown, European Arms & Armor, page 65.

2. (Weapon) A wooden spear, sometimes hollow, used in jousting or tilting , designed to shatter on impact with the opposing knight's armour.

   Quotations

   • 1591: What will you do, good greybeard ? Break a lance, And run a-tilt at Death within a chair? — William Shakespeare, Henry VI, Part I, Act III, Scene II, line 49.

3. A spear or harpoon used by whalers and fishermen .
4. (Military)A soldier armed with a lance; a lancer .
5. (Military) An instrument which conveys the charge of a piece of ordnance and forces it home.
6. (Founding) A small iron rod which suspends the core of the mold in casting a shell.
7. (Pyrotechnics) One of the small paper cases filled with combustible composition, which mark the outlines of a figure.

Translations

• Chinese: 長矛 , 长矛
• Dutch: lans de
• German: Lanze f
• Greek: λόγχη f
• Italian: lancia f
• Japanese: 槍
• Korean: 창
• Spanish: lanza f

See also

• javelin
• spear

Transitive verb

to lance (lances , lanced , lancing )

1. To pierce with a lance, or with any similar weapon.

   Seized the due victim, and with fury lanced Her back. Dryden.

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; Lanch .

Derived terms

• Free lance
• Lance bucket (Cavalry)
• Lance corporal
• Lance fish (Zoology)
• Lance knight
• Lance snake (Zoology)
• Stink-fire lance (Military)

External links

• Wikipedia article on lance .

French

Noun

lance f

1. spear, lance

Related terms

• lancement
• lancer
• lancier