lance

UK: /ˈlɑːns/

US: /læns/

US: 'lance': (lans, läns); 'Lance': (lans)

Inflections of 'lance' (v): (⇒ conjugate)

lances

v 3rd person singular

lancing

v pres p

lanced

v past

lanced

v past p

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025

lance¹ /læns/   n., v., lanced, lanc•ing. 
n. [countable]

1. Military a long wooden shaft with a pointed metal head, esp. one used by a knight.
2. Military lancer.
3. lancet.

v. [~ + object]

4. to open or pierce with or as if with a lancet:
   The nurse lanced the boil.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

lance¹  (lans, läns), n., v., lanced, lanc•ing. 
n. 

1. Military a long wooden shaft with a pointed metal head, used as a weapon by knights and cavalry soldiers in charging.
2. Military a cavalry soldier armed with such a weapon;
   lancer.
3. Military an implement resembling the weapon, as a spear for killing a harpooned whale.
4. Military (cap.) 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. Building See oxygen lance. 
7. [Mach.]
   • Mechanical Engineering a tube having a nozzle for cleaning furnace walls and other inaccessible surfaces with air, water, or steam.
   • Mechanical Engineering 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.

v.t. 

8. to open with or as if with a lancet.
9. to pierce with a lance.
10. Building to cut through (concrete or the like) with an oxygen lance.

• Celtic)
• Latin lancea (perh.
• Old French lance
• Middle English launce 1250–1300

lance′like′, adj. 

lance²  (lans, läns), n. 

1. Fish See sand lance. 

• perh. special use of lance¹, from its shape

Lance  (lans), n. 

1. a male given name.

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

lance / 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. another name for lancet
4. the sand lance
   See sand eel

verb (transitive)

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

Etymology: 13th Century launce, from Old French lance, from Latin lancea