“lance” – English explanatory dictionary

noun a long pointed stick carried by a knight in armour. Synonym spear ■ verb to make a cut in a boil or abscess to remove the pus ○ The doctor decided to lance the abscess.

(lans), n. [OE. lance, F. lance, fr. L. lancea; cf. Gr. lo•gchh. Cf. Launch.]
1. A weapon of war, consisting of a long shaft or handle and a steel blade or head; a spear carried by horsemen, and often decorated with a small flag; also a spear or harpoon used by whalers and fishermen. “A braver soldier never couched lance.” Shak.
2. A soldier armed with a lance; a lancer.
3. (Founding) A small iron rod which suspends the core of the mold in casting a shell.
4. (Mil.) An instrument which conveys the charge of a piece of ordnance and forces it home.
5. (Pyrotech.) One of the small paper cases filled with combustible composition, which mark the outlines of a figure. Free lance, in the Middle Ages, and subsequently, a knight or roving soldier, who was free to engage for any state or commander that purchased his services; hence, a person who assails institutions or opinions on his own responsibility without regard to party lines or deference to authority. — Lance bucket (Cavalry), a socket attached to a saddle or stirrup strap, in which to rest the but of a lance. — Lance corporal, same as Lancepesade. — Lance knight, a lansquenet. B. Jonson. — Lance snake (Zoöl.), the fer-de-lance. — Stink-fire lance (Mil.), a kind of fuse filled with a composition which burns with a suffocating odor; — used in the counter operations of miners. — To break a lance, to engage in a tilt or contest.

v. t. [imp. & p. p. Lanced ; p. pr. & vb. n. Lancing ]
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; as to lance a vein or an abscess.
3. To throw in the manner of a lance. See Lanch.