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Lance vs Spear - What's the difference?

lance | spear |

As nouns the difference between lance and spear

is that lance is a weapon of war, consisting of a long shaft or handle and a steel blade or head; a spear carried by horsemen while spear is a long stick with a sharp tip used as a weapon for throwing or thrusting, or anything used to make a thrusting motion.

As verbs the difference between lance and spear

is that lance is to pierce with a lance, or with any similar weapon while spear is to penetrate or strike with, or as if with, any long narrow object. To make a thrusting motion that catches an object on the tip of a long device.

As proper nouns the difference between lance and spear

is that lance is {{surname|patronymic|from=given names} while Spear is {{surname|A=An English|from=nicknames}.

lance

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • A weapon of war, consisting of a long shaft or handle and a steel blade or head; a spear carried by horsemen.
  • * 1590 , William Shakespeare, Henry VI , Part III, Act II, Scene III, line 15.
    • Thy brother’s blood the thirsty earth hath drunk, Broach’d with the steely point of Clifford’s lance ...
  • * 1909 , Charles Henry Ashdown, European Arms & Armor , page 65.
    • The head of the lance was commonly of the leaf form, and sometimes approached that of the lozenge; it was very seldom barbed, although this variety, together with the others, appears upon the .
  • A wooden spear, sometimes hollow, used in jousting or tilting, designed to shatter on impact with the opposing knight’s armour.
  • * 1591 , William Shakespeare, Henry VI , Part I, Act III, Scene II, line 49.
    • What will you do, good greybeard? Break a lance, And run a-tilt at Death within a chair?
  • (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.

    • Derived terms

    * free lance * lance bucket (cavalry) * lance corporal * lance fish (zoology) * lance knight * lance sergeant * lancer * lance snake (zoology) * stink-fire lance (military)

    Related terms

    * lancet

    Verb

    (lanc)
  • To pierce with a lance, or with any similar weapon.
    • Seized the due victim, and with fury lanced Her back. Dryden.
  • To open with a lancet; to pierce; as, to lance a vein or an abscess.
  • To throw in the manner of a lance; to lanch.

    • Quotations

    * (English Citations of "lance")

    See also

    * javelin * pike * spear

    Anagrams

    * ----

    spear

    English

    (wikipedia spear)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A long stick with a sharp tip used as a weapon for throwing or thrusting, or anything used to make a thrusting motion.
  • A soldier armed with such a weapon; a spearman.
  • * 2011 , Thomas Penn, Winter King , Penguin 2012, p. 187:
    • Two of the four spears came directly from Lady Margaret's staff. One was her great-nephew Maurice St John […].
  • A sharp tool used by fishermen to retrieve fish.
  • (ice hockey) an illegal maneuver using the end of a hockey stick to strike into another hockey player.
  • (wrestling) a running tackle on an opponent performed in professional wrestling.
  • A spearman.
    • (Sir Walter Scott)
  • A shoot, as of grass; a spire.
  • The feather of a horse.
  • The rod to which the bucket, or plunger, of a pump is attached; a pump rod.
  • A long, thin strip from a vegetable.
    • asparagus and broccoli spears

    Derived terms

    * spearbush * spear gun * spearhead * spearmint * spear thrower * spear tackle * spearwood

    See also

    * assegai, assagai, assagaie, assagay, assegay, azagaia, hassagay, hassaguay, zagaie, zagaye * atlatl * bayonet * harpoon * javelin * joust * lance * pike * spit, used to grill food on fire * woomera

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To penetrate or strike with, or as if with, any long narrow object. To make a thrusting motion that catches an object on the tip of a long device.
  • To shoot into a long stem, as some plants do.
    • (Mortimer)

    Anagrams

    * ----