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🗡️ A long spear 🩹 To cut open 💨 To move fast
to lance

to lance

5 7.0
Cut a skin sore to let out fluid
  • verb
  • /læns/
translation icon : incidir
  • The doctor had to lance the patient's boil to relieve the pressure.
  • lance the boil
  • pain lanced

Examples

  • Sir Astley-Cooper acquired his knighthood by having successfully lanced a boil on the King's head.

    Burke & Hare (2010)

  • According to a recent Arab text, you have to lance the swellings.

    Flesh + Blood (1985)

  • - Perhaps, we should lance it, sir.

    Mountains of the Moon (1990)

  • Had to lance it myself.

    Mountains of the Moon (1990)

  • But in a moment, I understood that she was trying to "lance the boil," as she'd put it.

    Fiction book (1997)

  • I was lancing a sty.

    Fiction book (2001)

  • If a boil must be lanced, she told herself, 'tis best to do it quickly.

    Fiction book (2000)

  • It's sometimes akin to lancing a boil, and only at that late date does the healing really start.

    Blog text (13)

  • Charlie's neck has swollen again; we got it lanced today. He seems quite well and is fleshy.

    Blog text (20)

  • It's time to put her catheter in, and then after that... I've got to scrub in between her fat folds... and I've got to lance her boils.

    Scary Movie 4 (2006)

Synonyms

to pierce
vsto lance
110 3.5

To make a hole in something with a sharp object like a needle

aim to cut or penetrate specifically to release fluid or to attack
to puncture
vsto lance
50 3.9

To make a small hole in something with a sharp object that lets air or liquid escape

cut or penetrate more deeply to release fluid or as a directed attack

Antonyms

to seal
457 2.5

To close something tightly to stop air or water getting in

Idioms

to break one's lance
  • Archaic
9.9

To fight strongly for a good cause in a brave, fair way

Compounds

lance corporal
2 7.1

A low rank in the army or marines above private first class and below corporal

fer-de-lance
  • US
9.9

A large snake from Central and South America that gives a dangerous bite when threatened

free-lance
3.7

A person who sells their work to different companies or people without a long contract

sand lance
9.1

A small silvery fish that swims in schools and burrows into sand

How Forceful

to impale
  • Offensive
26 7.7
to stab
  • NSFW
459 2.7
to lance
5 7.0
to pierce
110 3.5
cut
1.0
to nick
33 3.5

Surface Forms

lance infinitive
lanced past
lanced past participle
lancing present participle
lances third person singular

Etymology

Lance comes from the old Latin word lancea meaning 'spear'. Doctors once used a spear-like tool to pierce boils and let out the fluid, so to lance something is to cut or pierce it to release fluid.