lance

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
lance/lɑːns/

▶noun

• 1 a long weapon with a wooden shaft and a pointed steel head, formerly used by a horseman in charging.

• 2 a similar weapon used in hunting fish or whales.

• 3 a metal pipe supplying a jet of oxygen to a furnace or to make a very hot flame for cutting.

▶verb

• 1 Medicine prick or cut open with a sharp instrument.

• 2 pierce with or as if with a lance.

• 3 move suddenly and quickly.

– origin ME: from OFr. lance (n.), lancier (v.), from L. lancea (n.).