lance

English

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lance

Wikipedia

Etymology

From Middle English launce, from Old French lance, from Latin lancea.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: läns, IPA^(key): /lɑːns/
• (US) enPR: lăns, IPA^(key): /læns/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɑːns, -æns

Noun

lance (plural lances)

1. A weapon of war, consisting of a long shaft or handle and a steel blade or head; a spear carried by horsemen.
   • c. 1591–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, ”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, , line 15:

     Thy brother’s blood the thirsty earth hath drunk, Broach’d with the steely point of Clifford’s lance […]

   • 1909, Charles Henry Ashdown, European Arms & Armor, page 65:

     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.

2. A wooden spear, sometimes hollow, used in jousting or tilting, designed to shatter on impact with the opposing knight’s armour.
   • 1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Sixt”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, , line 49:

     What will you do, good greybeard? Break a lance, And run a-tilt at Death within a chair?

3. (fishing) 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. (metallurgy) 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.
8. (medicine) A lancet.

Derived terms

Related terms

• lancet

Translations

Verb

lance (third-person singular simple present lances, present participle lancing, simple past and past participle lanced)

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.

   to lance a vein or an abscess

3. To throw in the manner of a lance; to lanch.
4. (informal) to steal or swipe

   He lanced my drink and spiked it!

Quotations

• For quotations using this term, see Citations:lance.

Translations

See also

• javelin
• pike
• spear

Anagrams

• Calne, Lenca, ancle, clane, clean

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /lɑ̃s/
• Homophones: lancent, lances

Etymology 1

Inherited from Old French lance, from Latin lancea.

Noun

lance f (plural lances)

1. a spear, lance
2. (military) a soldier armed with a lance; a lancer
3. a hose

Derived terms

• fer de lance
• lancette
• lancier

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

lance

1. inflection of lancer:
   1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
   2. second-person singular imperative

Derived terms

• lance-roquette
• relance (form of verb relancer)

Related terms

Further reading

• “lance”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé , 2012.

Friulian

Etymology

From Latin lancea.

Noun

lance f (plural lancis)

1. lance, spear

Related terms

• slançâ

Galician

Verb

lance

1. (reintegrationist norm) inflection of lançar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈlan.t͡ʃe/
• Rhymes: -antʃe
• Hyphenation: làn‧ce

Noun

lance f pl

1. plural of lancia

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈlan.ke/,
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈlan.t͡ʃe/,

Noun

lance

1. ablative singular of lanx

Middle English

Etymology 1

Noun

lance

1. Alternative form of launce

Etymology 2

Verb

lance

1. Alternative form of launcen

Middle French

Etymology

From Old French lance.

Noun

lance f (plural lances)

1. lance (weapon)
2. lancer; lance

Descendants

• French: lance

Old French

Etymology

From Latin lancea.

Noun

lance oblique singular, f (oblique plural lances, nominative singular lance, nominative plural lances)

1. lance (weapon)

Descendants

• Middle French: lance
  • French: lance
• → Middle English: launce
  • English: lance
• → Middle High German: lanze
  • German: Lanze

Portuguese

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

Deverbal from lançar.

Noun

lance m (plural lances)

1. throw (act of throwing something)

   Synonyms: arremesso, jogada, lançamento

2. bid (offer at an auction)

   Synonym: lanço

3. (sports) a series of actions carried out during a game

   Synonym: jogada

4. (informal) thing (only used for non-physical things)
5. flight (series of stairs between landings)

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

lance

1. inflection of lançar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian lancia (18th century).

Noun

lance f (plural lănci)

1. spear, lance

   Synonym: suliță

Declension

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Spain) /ˈlanθe/
• IPA^(key): (Latin America) /ˈlanse/
• (Spain) Rhymes: -anθe
• (Latin America) Rhymes: -anse
• Syllabification: lan‧ce

Etymology 1

Deverbal from lanzar.

Noun

lance m (plural lances)

1. launch (act of launching)

   Synonym: lanzamiento

2. throw
3. cast (fishing)
4. situation
5. telling-off; scolding

Derived terms

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

lance

1. inflection of lanzar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

Further reading

• “lance”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014