LANCE • FREE-TRANSLATOR.COM • Definition of Lance

Add this Dictionary
to your website!
See more options...

/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

Share |

"Lance" Quotes from Famous Books

... shouldering his arms, on guard before the black and white sentry-box—to the right, ready to march with knapsack and cooking utensils strapped on his back, bread-bag and field-flask at his side, gun at his feet—in the centre, in full dress uniform as a lance-corporal, with his hand to his ...

— The Son of His Mother • Clara Viebig

... and leather, and from his lance fluttered the bannerol bearing the Borgia arms, which had announced his ...

— The Shame of Motley • Raphael Sabatini

... with their taunts and revilings, the party killed their prisoner and cut off his head. They set his head upon the point of a lance, and in this way presented it to Queen Margaret. The queen ordered the head to be decorated with a paper crown, and then to be carried to York, and set up at the gates of that city upon ...

— Richard III - Makers of History • Jacob Abbott

... good and her steward's department excelled that of the regular passenger boats. By cutting the regular passenger rates from twenty-five to forty per cent. and advertising the vessel to sail at a certain hour on a certain date from a certain pier, free-lance ticket brokers found no difficulty in getting her a fair complement of passengers each trip. There was a moderate profit in this passenger traffic, and Mr. Skinner was ...

— Cappy Ricks • Peter B. Kyne

... horse and weapon. The shouts of the fellows as they galloped up and down in the animating exercise—their loud bursts of laughter when any of their number caught a fall—and still louder acclamations when any of the party made a capital stroke with his lance—gave so much animation to the whole scene, that I caught the enthusiasm of the sport, and ventured forward a considerable space on the sands. The feats of one horseman, in particular, called forth so repeatedly the clamorous applause of his ...

— Redgauntlet • Sir Walter Scott

Copyright © 2025 Free-Translator.com