lance
lance / lans/ • n. hist. a long weapon for thrusting, having a wooden shaft and a pointed steel head, used by a horseman in charging. ∎ a similar weapon used in hunting fish or whales. ∎ another term for lancer (sense 1). ∎ [usu. with adj.] a metal pipe supplying a jet of oxygen to a furnace or to a hot flame for cutting. ∎ a rigid tube at the end of a hose for pumping or spraying liquid.• v. [tr.] Med. prick or cut open with a lancet or other sharp instrument: abscesses should not be lanced until there is a soft spot in the center fig. the governor made it one of his priorities to lance the boil of corruption. ∎ pierce with or as if with a lance: the teenager had been lanced by a wooden splinter. ∎ [intr.] move suddenly and quickly: pain lanced through her.ORIGIN: Middle English: from Old French lance (noun), lancier (verb), from Latin lancea (noun).
lance
So lance vb. fling, hurl; (dial.) spring, bound; pierce, make incision in XIV. —(O)F. lancer, †-ier. lancer soldier armed with a lance. XVI. — F. lancier.