means A long, straight thrusting weapon with a pointed metal head, especially the kind couched under a mounted knight's arm; as a verb, to pierce or cut open something (like a boil or abscess) with a sharp instrument.

from From Old French 'lance,' straight out of Latin 'lancea,' a light spear or javelin — a word the Romans themselves may have borrowed from a Celtic or Iberian source, since the writer Varro flagged it as foreign. The same root pierced its way into 'lancet' (the little surgical blade) and even 'freelance,' which began life literally meaning a 'free lance' — a mercenary knight whose spear served whoever paid, loyal to no banner.