lance
1a long wooden shaft with a pointed metal head, used as a weapon by knights and cavalry soldiers in charging.
a cavalry soldier armed with such a weapon; lancer.
an implement resembling the weapon, as a spear for killing a harpooned whale.
Lance, 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.
a lancet.
Machinery.
a tube having a nozzle for cleaning furnace walls and other inaccessible surfaces with air, water, or steam.
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.
to open with or as if with a lancet.
to pierce with a lance.
to cut through (concrete or the like) with an oxygen lance.
Origin of lance
1Other words from lance
- lancelike, adjective
- un·lanced, adjective
Other definitions for lance (2 of 3)
Origin of lance
2Other definitions for Lance (3 of 3)
a male given name.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use lance in a sentence
Suddenly the long beam of a searchlight lanced across the night sky above, then another and another.
Valley of the Croen | Lee TarbellQuite suddenly came a soft sussuration overhead, a light-beam lanced down, pinning us there.
Valley of the Croen | Lee TarbellWhen it withdrew the device hummed, then clicked three times as three separate hypodermic needles lanced into the skin.
Deathworld | Harry HarrisonIt becoming necessary, upon this, to send him to bed again and hold him in waiting to be lanced again, Bella did it.
Our Mutual Friend | Charles DickensIn dropping, the bandage of the arm unfastens, the recently lanced vein re-opens, and the blood streams out anew.
The Iron Pincers | Eugne Sue
British Dictionary definitions for lance
/ (lɑːns) /
a long weapon with a pointed head used by horsemen to unhorse or injure an opponent
a similar weapon used for hunting, whaling, etc
to pierce (an abscess or boil) with a lancet to drain off pus
to pierce with or as if with a lance
Origin of lance
1Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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