lance

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

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

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɑːns, -æns

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[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iii], 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[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii], 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.

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

1. (medicine) Prick or cut open with a sharp instrument.
2. Pierce with or as if with a lance.
3. Move suddenly and quickly

• lancet

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.
   • Template:RQ:Dryden Fables from Boccaccio and Chaucer
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!

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

• javelin
• pike
• spear

• Calne, Lenca, ancle, clane, clean

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

Inherited from Old French lance, from Latin lancea.

lance f (plural lances)

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

• fer de lance
• lancette
• lancier

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

lance

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

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

• “lance”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

From Latin lancea.

lance f (plural lancis)

1. lance, spear

• slançâ

lance

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

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

lance f pl

1. plural of lancia

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈɫaŋ.kɛ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈlan̠ʲ.t͡ʃe]

lance

1. ablative singular of lanx

lance

1. alternative form of launce

lance

1. alternative form of launcen

From Old French lance.

lance f (plural lances)

1. lance (weapon)
2. lancer; lance

• French: lance

From Latin lancea.

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

1. lance (weapon)

• Franc-Comtois: laince
• Middle French: lance
  • French: lance
• → Middle English: launce
  • English: lance
• → Middle High German: lanze
  • German: Lanze

Deverbal from lançar.

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) matter, thing (crux, subject; only used for non-physical things)

   Synonyms: parada, (Portugal) cena

   E aí, qual é o lance?

   So, what's up?

   Esse é o lance, mano. As coisas não podem ficar assim.

   That's the thing, dude. Things can't stay this way.

5. (informal) thing, fling (romantic relationship)
   • 2012, “Lancinho”, in Leiz (music), O Som das Multidões, performed by Turma do Pagode:

     Namora, mas adora um proibido
     E eu que sou culpado, eu que sou bandido
     Prefere um romance escondido
     Sai na madrugada pra dar lancinho comigo

     You're dating, but you sure love the forbidden
     And then it's my fault, [and then] I'm the criminal
     You'd rather keep our hookups hidden
     You go out past midnight to go on a fling night

6. flight (series of stairs between landings)

   Uma vez eu já caí dez lances de escadas. Não recomendo.

   I once fell ten flights of stairs. I don't advise it.

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

lance

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

• “lance”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2025
• “lance”, in Dicio – Dicionário Online de Português (in Portuguese), São Paulo: 7Graus, 2009–2025
• “lance”, in Dicionário inFormal (in Portuguese), 2006–2025
• “lance”, in Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisboa: Academia das Ciências de Lisboa, 2001–2025
• “lance”, in Michaelis Dicionário Brasileiro da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), São Paulo: Editora Melhoramentos, 2015–2025

Borrowed from Italian lancia (18th century).

lance f (plural lănci)

1. spear, lance

   Synonym: suliță

• IPA^(key): /ˈlanθe/ [ˈlãn̟.θe] (Spain)
• IPA^(key): /ˈlanse/ [ˈlãn.se] (Latin America, Philippines)
• Rhymes: -anθe (Spain)
• Rhymes: -anse (Latin America, Philippines)
• Syllabification: lan‧ce

Deverbal from lanzar.

lance m (plural lances)

1. launch (act of launching)

   Synonym: lanzamiento

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

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

lance

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

• “lance”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 10 December 2024