lance

Definitions

• A weapon of war, consisting of a long shaft or handle and a steel blade or head; a spear carried by horsemen.
• A wooden spear, sometimes hollow, used in jousting or tilting, designed to shatter on impact with the opposing knight’s armour.
• (fishing) A spear or harpoon used by whalers and fishermen.
• (military) A soldier armed with a lance; a lancer.
• (military) An instrument which conveys the charge of a piece of ordnance and forces it home.
• (founding) A small iron rod which suspends the core of the mold in casting a shell.
• (pyrotechnics) One of the small paper cases filled with combustible composition, which mark the outlines of a figure.
• (medicine) A lancet.