*lance*

n. [ Cf. OF. assemblance. ] 1. Resemblance; likeness; appearance. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Care I for the . . . stature, bulk, and big assemblance of a man? Give me the spirit. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. An assembling; assemblage. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

To weete [ know ] the cause of their assemblance. Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE. balaunce, F. balance, fr. L. bilanx, bilancis, having two scales; bis twice (akin to E. two) + lanx plate, scale. ] 1. An apparatus for weighing. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ In its simplest form, a balance consists of a beam or lever supported exactly in the middle, having two scales or basins of equal weight suspended from its extremities. Another form is that of the Roman balance, our steelyard, consisting of a lever or beam, suspended near one of its extremities, on the longer arm of which a counterpoise slides. The name is also given to other forms of apparatus for weighing bodies, as to the combinations of levers making up platform scales; and even to devices for weighing by the elasticity of a spring. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Act of weighing mentally; comparison; estimate. [ 1913 Webster ]

A fair balance of the advantages on either side. Atterbury. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Equipoise between the weights in opposite scales. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. The state of being in equipoise; equilibrium; even adjustment; steadiness. [ 1913 Webster ]

And hung a bottle on each side
To make his balance true. Cowper. [ 1913 Webster ]

The order and balance of the country were destroyed. Buckle. [ 1913 Webster ]

English workmen completely lose their balance. J. S. Mill. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. An equality between the sums total of the two sides of an account; as, to bring one's accounts to a balance; -- also, the excess on either side; as, the balance of an account. “A balance at the banker's.” Thackeray. [ 1913 Webster ]

I still think the balance of probabilities leans towards the account given in the text. J. Peile. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. (Horol.) A balance wheel, as of a watch, or clock. See Balance wheel (in the Vocabulary). [ 1913 Webster ]

7. (Astron.) (a) The constellation Libra. (b) The seventh sign in the Zodiac, called Libra, which the sun enters at the equinox in September. [ 1913 Webster ]

8. A movement in dancing. See Balance, v. t., 8. [ 1913 Webster ]

Balance electrometer, a kind of balance, with a poised beam, which indicates, by weights suspended from one arm, the mutual attraction of oppositely electrified surfaces. Knight. --
Balance fish. (Zool.) See Hammerhead. --
Balance knife, a carving or table knife the handle of which overbalances the blade, and so keeps it from contact with the table. --
Balance of power (Politics), such an adjustment of power among sovereign states that no one state is in a position to interfere with the independence of the others; international equilibrium; also, the ability (of a state or a third party within a state) to control the relations between sovereign states or between dominant parties in a state. --
Balance sheet (Bookkeeping), a paper showing the balances of the open accounts of a business, the debit and credit balances footing up equally, if the system of accounts be complete and the balances correctly taken. --
Balance thermometer, a thermometer mounted as a balance so that the movement of the mercurial column changes the inclination of the tube. With the aid of electrical or mechanical devices adapted to it, it is used for the automatic regulation of the temperature of rooms warmed artificially, and as a fire alarm. --
Balance of torsion. See Torsion Balance. --
Balance of trade (Pol. Econ.), an equilibrium between the money values of the exports and imports of a country; or more commonly, the amount required on one side or the other to make such an equilibrium. --
Balance valve, a valve whose surfaces are so arranged that the fluid pressure tending to seat, and that tending to unseat, the valve, are nearly in equilibrium; esp., a puppet valve which is made to operate easily by the admission of steam to both sides. See Puppet valve. --
Hydrostatic balance. See under Hydrostatic. --
To lay in balance, to put up as a pledge or security. [ Obs. ] Chaucer. --
To strike a balance, to find out the difference between the debit and credit sides of an account. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Balanced p. pr. & vb. n. Balancing ] [ From Balance, n.: cf. F. balancer. ] 1. To bring to an equipoise, as the scales of a balance by adjusting the weights; to weigh in a balance. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To support on a narrow base, so as to keep from falling; as, to balance a plate on the end of a cane; to balance one's self on a tight rope. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To equal in number, weight, force, or proportion; to counterpoise, counterbalance, counteract, or neutralize. [ 1913 Webster ]

One expression . . . must check and balance another. Kent. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To compare in relative force, importance, value, etc.; to estimate. [ 1913 Webster ]

Balance the good and evil of things. L'Estrange. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. To settle and adjust, as an account; to make two accounts equal by paying the difference between them. [ 1913 Webster ]

I am very well satisfied that it is not in my power to balance accounts with my Maker. Addison. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. To make the sums of the debits and credits of an account equal; -- said of an item; as, this payment, or credit, balances the account. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. To arrange accounts in such a way that the sum total of the debits is equal to the sum total of the credits; as, to balance a set of books. [ 1913 Webster ]

8. (Dancing) To move toward, and then back from, reciprocally; as, to balance partners. [ 1913 Webster ]

9. (Naut.) To contract, as a sail, into a narrower compass; as, to balance the boom mainsail. [ 1913 Webster ]

Balanced valve. See Balance valve, under Balance, n. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- To poise; weigh; adjust; counteract; neutralize; equalize. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. 1. To have equal weight on each side; to be in equipoise; as, the scales balance. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To fluctuate between motives which appear of equal force; to waver; to hesitate. [ 1913 Webster ]

He would not balance or err in the determination of his choice. Locke. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Dancing) To move toward a person or couple, and then back. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Such as can be balanced. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. being in a state of proper balance or equilibrium; -- opposite of unbalanced. the carefully balanced seesaw a properly balanced symphony orchestra a balanced assessment of intellectual and cultural history a balanced blend of whiskeys the educated man shows a balanced development of all his powers [ Narrower terms: counterbalanced, counter-balanced, counterpoised; well-balanced; poised ] [ Related terms: stable --- (maintaining equilibrium) ] [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. The act or result of balancing or adjusting; equipoise; even adjustment of forces. [ R. ] Darwin. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. One who balances, or uses a balance. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Zool.) In Diptera, the rudimentary posterior wing. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Naut.) The last reef in a fore-and-aft sail, taken to steady the ship. [ 1913 Webster ]

1. (Horology) (a) A wheel which regulates the beats or pulses of a watch or chronometer, answering to the pendulum of a clock; -- often called simply a balance. (b) A ratchet-shaped scape wheel, which in some watches is acted upon by the axis of the balance wheel proper (in those watches called a balance). [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Mach.) A wheel which imparts regularity to the movements of any engine or machine; a fly wheel. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Brilliancy. Tennyson. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Contemplation. [ Obs. ] Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Counterbalanced p. pr. & vb. n. Counterbalancing. ] To oppose with an equal weight or power; to counteract the power or effect of; to countervail; to equiponderate; to balance. [ 1913 Webster ]

The remaining air was not able to counterbalance the mercurial cylinder. Boyle. [ 1913 Webster ]

The study of mind is necessary to counterbalance and correct the influence of the study of nature. Sir W. Hamilton. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A weight, power, or agency, acting against or balancing another; as: (a) A mass of metal in one side of a driving wheel or fly wheel, to balance the weight of a crank pin, etc., on the opposite side of the wheel. (b) A counterpoise to balance the weight of anything, as of a drawbridge or a scale beam. [ 1913 Webster ]

Money is the counterbalance to all other things purchasable by it. Locke. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. brought into equipoise by means of a weight or force that offsets another.
Syn. -- counterpoised. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. [ F. défaillance. ] Failure; miscarriage. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Possibility of defailance in degree or continuance. Comber. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A light lance; a short spear; a half pike; also, a demilancer. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A soldier of light cavalry of the 16th century, who carried a demilance. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. F. dissemblance. See Dissemble. ] Want of resemblance; dissimilitude. [ R. ] Osborne. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Dissemble + -ance. ] The act or art of dissembling; dissimulation. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Elanced p. pr. & vb. n. Elancing ] [ F. élancer, OF. eslancier; pref. es- (L. ex) + F. lancer to dart, throw, fr. lance. ] To throw as a lance; to hurl; to dart. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

While thy unerring hand elanced . . . a dart. Prior. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. (Bot.) Having a form intermediate between elliptic and lanceolate. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Parley; imparlance. [ Obs. ] Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Mutual talk or conversation; conference. [ Obs. ] Sir J. Hayward. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Equi- + balance. ] Equal weight; equiponderance. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Equibalanced p. pr. & vb. n. Equibalancing ] To make of equal weight; to balance equally; to counterbalance; to equiponderate. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A glance of eye. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Of. faillance, fr. faillir. ] Fault; failure; omission. [ Obs. ] Bp. Fell. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. [ F., the iron of a lance, lance head. ] (Zool.) A large, venomous serpent (Trigonocephalus lanceolatus) of Brazil and the West Indies. It is allied to the rattlesnake, but has no rattle. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. a person who acts independently or without authorization of an organization or of his superiors. [ PJC ]

2. a person who pursues a profession independently, and not as the employee of an organization; -- used especially of writers or photographers who sell their work to organizations of which they are not employees. [ PJC ]

a. of or pertaining to a freelance{ 2 }; as, a freelance photographer. [ PJC ]

v. i. to work on a free-lance basis; to work as a freelancer.
Syn. -- freelance. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. a freelance{ 2 }, n. [ PJC ]

n. [ Akin to D. glans luster, brightness, G. glanz, Sw. glans, D. glands brightness, glimpse. Cf. Gleen, Glint, Glitter, and Glance a mineral. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. A sudden flash of light or splendor. [ 1913 Webster ]

Swift as the lightning glance. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A quick cast of the eyes; a quick or a casual look; a swift survey; a glimpse. [ 1913 Webster ]

Dart not scornful glances from those eyes. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. An incidental or passing thought or allusion. [ 1913 Webster ]

How fleet is a glance of the mind. Cowper. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Min.) A name given to some sulphides, mostly dark-colored, which have a brilliant metallic luster, as the sulphide of copper, called copper glance. [ 1913 Webster ]

Glance coal, anthracite; a mineral composed chiefly of carbon. --
Glance cobalt, cobaltite, or gray cobalt. --
Glance copper, chalcocite. --
Glance wood, a hard wood grown in Cuba, and used for gauging instruments, carpenters' rules, etc. McElrath. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. [ imp. & p. p. Glanced p. pr. & vb. n. Glancing ] 1. To shoot or emit a flash of light; to shine; to flash. [ 1913 Webster ]

From art, from nature, from the schools,
Let random influences glance,
Like light in many a shivered lance,
That breaks about the dappled pools. Tennyson. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To strike and fly off in an oblique direction; to dart aside. ”Your arrow hath glanced”. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

On me the curse aslope
Glanced on the ground. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To look with a sudden, rapid cast of the eye; to snatch a momentary or hasty view. [ 1913 Webster ]

The poet's eye, in a fine frenzy rolling,
Doth glance from heaven to earth, from earth to heaven. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To make an incidental or passing reflection; to allude; to hint; -- often with at. [ 1913 Webster ]

Wherein obscurely
Caesar's ambition shall be glanced at. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

He glanced at a certain reverend doctor. Swift. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. To move quickly, appearing and disappearing rapidly; to be visible only for an instant at a time; to move interruptedly; to twinkle. [ 1913 Webster ]

And all along the forum and up the sacred seat,
His vulture eye pursued the trip of those small glancing feet. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. 1. To shoot or dart suddenly or obliquely; to cast for a moment; as, to glance the eye. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To hint at; to touch lightly or briefly. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

In company I often glanced it. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. Emparlance, Parlance. ] [ Written also inparliance. ] 1. Mutual discourse; conference. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Law) (a) Time given to a party to talk or converse with his opponent, originally with the object of effecting, if possible, an amicable adjustment of the suit. The actual object, however, has long been merely to obtain further time to plead, or answer to the allegations of the opposite party. (b) Hence, the delay or continuance of a suit. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ Imparlance and continuance by imparlance have been abolished in England. Wharton (Law Dict. ). [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } n. [ in- not + vigilance: cf. OF. invigilance. ] Lack of vigilance; neglect of watching; carelessness. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. a feeling of extreme joy; jubilation.
Syn. -- exultation, jubilancy, jubilation. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. [ OE. lance, F. lance, fr. L. lancea; cf. Gr. lo`gchh. Cf. Launch. ] 1. A weapon of war, consisting of a long shaft or handle and a steel blade or head; a spear carried by horsemen, and often decorated with a small flag; also, a spear or harpoon used by whalers and fishermen. [ 1913 Webster ]

A braver soldier never couched lance. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A soldier armed with a lance; a lancer. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Founding) A small iron rod which suspends the core of the mold in casting a shell. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Mil.) An instrument which conveys the charge of a piece of ordnance and forces it home. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. (Pyrotech.) One of the small paper cases filled with combustible composition, which mark the outlines of a figure. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. (Med.) A lancet. [ PJC ]

Free lance, in the Middle Ages, and subsequently, a knight or roving soldier, who was free to engage for any state or commander that purchased his services; hence, a person who assails institutions or opinions on his own responsibility without regard to party lines or deference to authority. See also freelance, n. and a., and freelancer. --
Lance bucket (Cavalry), a socket attached to a saddle or stirrup strap, in which to rest the but of a lance. --
Lance corporal, same as Lancepesade. --
Lance knight, a lansquenet. B. Jonson. --
Lance snake (Zool.), the fer-de-lance. --
Stink-fire lance (Mil.), a kind of fuse filled with a composition which burns with a suffocating odor; -- used in the counter operations of miners. --
To break a lance, to engage in a tilt or contest. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Lanced p. pr. & vb. n. Lancing ] 1. To pierce with a lance, or with any similar weapon. [ 1913 Webster ]

Seized the due victim, and with fury lanced
Her back. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To open with a lancet; to pierce; as, to lance a vein or an abscess. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To throw in the manner of a lance. See Lanch. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. A lancepesade. [ PJC ]

2. An enlisted member of the United States Marine Corps ranking between a private first class and a corporal. [ PJC ]

3. The lowest rank of corporal; -- a term used in the British military. RHUD [ PJC ]

pos>n. (Zool.) A slender marine fish of the genus Ammodytes, especially Ammodytes tobianus of the English coast; -- called also sand lance. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } n. [ OF. lancegaie, corrupted from the same source as E. assagai, under the influence of F. lance lance. See Assagai. ] A kind of spear anciently used. Its use was prohibited by a statute of Richard II. Nares. [ 1913 Webster ]

In his hand a launcegay,
A long sword by his side. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Lance + -let. ] (Zool.) A small fishlike animal (Amphioxus lanceolatus), remarkable for the rudimentary condition of its organs. It is the type of the class Leptocardia. See Amphioxus, Leptocardia. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Like a lance. [ R. ] Sir P. Sidney. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. lanceola a little lance, dim. of lancea lance: cf. F. lancéolaire. ] (Bot.) Lanceolate. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ a. [ L. lanceolatus: cf. F. lancéolé. See Lanceolar. ] (Bot. & Zool.) Rather narrow, tapering to a point at the apex, and sometimes at the base also; as, a lanceolate leaf. [ 1913 Webster ]