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lance

1 American  
[lans, lahns] / læns, lɑns /

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. Military. Lance, a U.S. Army surface-to-surface rocket with a range of 47 miles (75 km) and capable of carrying a tactical nuclear warhead.

  5. a lancet.

  6. oxygen lance.

  7. Machinery.

    1. a tube having a nozzle for cleaning furnace walls and other inaccessible surfaces with air, water, or steam.

    2. 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)

lanced, lancing

  1. to open with or as if with a lancet.

  2. to pierce with a lance.

  3. to cut through (concrete or the like) with an oxygen lance.

lance 2 American  
[lans, lahns] / læns, lɑns /

noun

  1. sand lance.

Lance 3 American  
[lans] / læns /

noun

  1. a male given name.

lance British  
/ lɑːns /

noun

  1. a long weapon with a pointed head used by horsemen to unhorse or injure an opponent

  2. a similar weapon used for hunting, whaling, etc

  3. surgery another name for lancet

  4. the sand lance See sand eel

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

verb

  1. to pierce (an abscess or boil) with a lancet to drain off pus

  2. to pierce with or as if with a lance

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

  • lancelike adjective
  • unlanced adjective

Etymology

Origin of lance1

First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English launce, lance, from Old French lance, from Latin lancea (perhaps from Celtic)

Origin of lance2

First recorded in 1620–30; perhaps special use of lance 1, from its shape

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

The scene that best defines the story’s idealism happens long before Dunk gets clunked in the head or skewered by a lance.

From Salon

Unlike his two friends, Mr. Spielberg didn’t want to tilt lances at the studios, make great art or change the world.

From The Wall Street Journal

Saint George is widely known as Christianity's most famous dragon slayer and is commonly depicted as a warrior holding a lance.

From Science Daily

But was Blair correct in saying he'd "lanced the boil of separatism"?

From BBC

Two opposing galaxies play the role of knights, with one galaxy pointing a lance made of pure radiation right at the other!

From Space Scoop

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.