Noah Webster
Lance
LANCE, noun l'ans. [Latin lancea; Gr.]
A spear, an offensive weapon in form of a half pike, used by the ancients and thrown by the hand. It consisted of the shaft or handle, the wings and the dart.
LANCE, verb transitive
1. To pierce with a lance or with a sharp pointed instrument.
- Seized the due victim, and with fury lanc'd her back.
2. To pierce or cut; to open with a lancet; as, to lance a vein or an abscess.