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Lancing

 - 5 dictionary results

lance

1  [lans, lahns] noun, verb, lanced, lanc⋅ing.
Use Lancing in a Sentence
–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 mi. (75 km) and capable of carrying a tactical nuclear warhead.
5. a lancet.
6. oxygen lance.
7. Machinery.
a. a tube having a nozzle for cleaning furnace walls and other inaccessible surfaces with air, water, or steam.
b. 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)
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; ME launce < OF lance < L lancea (perh. < Celtic)

Related forms:
lancelike, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To Lancing
lance   (lāns)   
n.  

    1. A thrusting weapon with a long wooden shaft and a sharp metal head.

    2. A similar implement for spearing fish.

  2. A cavalry lancer.

  3. Medicine See lancet.

tr.v.   lanced, lanc·ing, lanc·es

  1. To pierce with a lance.

  2. Medicine To make a surgical incision in; cut into: lance a boil.


[Middle English, from Old French, from Latin lancea, probably of Celtic origin.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

lance 
c.1290, from O.Fr. lance, from L. lancea "light spear" (It. lancia, Sp. lanza, Ger. Lanze), possibly of Celt-Iberian origin. The verb meaning "to pierce with a lance" is from c.1300; the surgical sense (properly with ref. to a lancet) is from 1474. Lance corporal (1786) is from obsolete lancepesade "officer of lowest rank" (1578), from O.It. lancia spezzata "old soldier," lit. "broken lance."
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Medical Dictionary

Main Entry: 2lance
Function: transitive verb
Inflected Forms: lanced; lanc·ing
: to open with or as if with a lancet : makean incision in or into <lance a boil> <lance a vein>
Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, © 2002 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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Medical Dictionary

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

The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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