Lancasterian Lan`cas·te"ri·an adjective Of or pertaining to the monitorial system of instruction followed by Joseph Lancaster , of England, in which advanced pupils in a school teach pupils below them.

Lance Lance (lăns) noun [ Middle English lance , French lance , fr . Latin lancea ; confer Greek lo`gchh . Confer 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.

A braver soldier never couched lance .

Shak.

2. A soldier armed with a lance; a lancer.

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

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

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

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. -- 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 (Zoology) , 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.

Lance Lance transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Lanced ; present participle & verbal noun Lancing .] 1. To pierce with a lance, or with any similar weapon.

Seized the due victim, and with fury lanced
Her back.

Dryden.

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

3. To throw in the manner of a lance. See Lanch .

Lance fish Lance" fish` (Zoology) A slender marine fish of the genus Ammodytes , especially Ammodytes tobianus of the English coast; -- called also sand lance .

Lancegay, Lancegaye Lance"gay`, Lance"gaye` noun [ Old French lancegaie , corrupted from the same source as English assagai , under the influence of French lance lance. See Assagai .] A kind of spear anciently used. Its use was prohibited by a statute of Richard II. Nares.

In his hand a launcegay ,
A long sword by his side.

Chaucer.

Lancelet Lance"let noun [ Lance + - let .] (Zoology) 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 .

Lancely Lance"ly adjective Like a lance. [ R.] Sir P. Sidney.

Lanceolar Lan"ce·o·lar adjective [ Latin lanceola a little lance, dim. of lancea lance: confer French lancéolaire .] (Botany) Lanceolate.

Lanceolate, Lanceolated Lan"ce·o·late, Lan"ce·o·la`ted adjective [ Latin lanceolatus : confer French lancéolé . See Lanceolar .] (Bot. & Zoology) Rather narrow, tapering to a point at the apex, and sometimes at the base also; as, a lanceolate leaf.

Lancepesade Lance`pe·sade" noun [ French lancepessade , lanspessade , anspessade , Italian lancia spezzata a broken lance or demilance, a demilance roan, a light horseman, bodyguard.] An assistant to a corporal; a private performing the duties of a corporal; -- called also lance corporal .

Lancer Lan"cer noun [ Confer French lancier .] 1. One who lances; one who carries a lance; especially, a member of a mounted body of men armed with lances, attached to the cavalry service of some nations. Wilhelm.

2. A lancet. [ Obsolete]

3. plural (Dancing) A set of quadrilles of a certain arrangement. [ Written also lanciers .]

Lancet Lan"cet noun [ French lancette , dim. of lance lance. See Lance .] 1. A surgical instrument of various forms, commonly sharp-pointed and two-edged, used in venesection, and in opening abscesses, etc.

2. (Metal.) An iron bar used for tapping a melting furnace. Knight.

Lancet arch (Architecture) , a pointed arch, of which the width, or span, is narrow compared with the height. -- Lancet architecture , a name given to a style of architecture, in which lancet arches are common; -- peculiar to England and 13th century. -- Lancet fish . (Zoology) (a) A large, voracious, deep- sea fish ( Alepidosaurus ferox ), having long, sharp, lancetlike teeth . (b) The doctor, or surgeon fish.

Lancewood Lance"wood` noun (Botany) A tough, elastic wood, often used for the shafts of gigs, archery bows, fishing rods, and the like. Also, the tree which produces this wood, Duguetia Quitarensis (a native of Guiana and Cuba), and several other trees of the same family ( Anonaseæ ).

Australian lancewood , a myrtaceous tree ( Backhousia Australis ).

Lanch Lanch (lȧnch) transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Lanched (lȧncht); present participle & verbal noun Lanching . See Launch , Lance .] To throw, as a lance; to let fly; to launch.

See Whose arm can lanch the surer bolt.

Dryden & Lee.

Lanciferous Lan·cif"er·ous adjective [ Lance + -ferous .] Bearing a lance.

Lanciform Lan"ci·form adjective [ Lance + -form : confer French lanciforme .] Having the form of a lance.

Lancinate Lan"ci·nate transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Lancinated ; present participle & verbal noun Lancinating .] [ Latin lancinatus , past participle of lancinare to fear.] To tear; to lacerate; to pierce or stab. De Quincey.

Lancinating Lan"ci·na`ting adjective Piercing; seeming to pierce or stab; as, lancinating pains (i.e., severe, darting pains).

Lancination Lan`ci·na"tion noun A tearing; laceration. " Lancinations of the spirit." Jer. Taylor.

Land Land (lănd) noun Urine. See Lant . [ Obsolete]

Land Land noun [ Anglo-Saxon land , lond ; akin to D., G., Icelandic , Swedish , Dan., and Goth. land . ] 1. The solid part of the surface of the earth; - - opposed to water as constituting a part of such surface, especially to oceans and seas; as, to sight land after a long voyage.

They turn their heads to sea, their sterns to land .

Dryden.

2. Any portion, large or small, of the surface of the earth, considered by itself, or as belonging to an individual or a people, as a country, estate, farm, or tract.

Go view the land , even Jericho.

Josh. ii. 1.

Ill fares the land , to hastening ills a prey,
Where wealth accumulates and men decay.

Goldsmith.

» In the expressions "to be, or dwell, upon land ," " to go , or fare , on land ," as used by Chaucer, land denotes the country as distinguished from the town.

A poor parson dwelling upon land [ i.e., in the country].

Chaucer.

3. Ground, in respect to its nature or quality; soil; as, wet land ; good or bad land .

4. The inhabitants of a nation or people.

These answers, in the silent night received,
The king himself divulged, the land believed.

Dryden.

5. The mainland, in distinction from islands.

6. The ground or floor. [ Obsolete]

Herself upon the land she did prostrate.

Spenser.

7. (Agriculture) The ground left unplowed between furrows; any one of several portions into which a field is divided for convenience in plowing.

8. (Law) Any ground, soil, or earth whatsoever, as meadows, pastures, woods, etc., and everything annexed to it, whether by nature, as trees, water, etc., or by the hand of man, as buildings, fences, etc.; real estate. Kent. Bouvier. Burrill.

9. (Nautical) The lap of the strakes in a clinker-built boat; the lap of plates in an iron vessel; -- called also landing . Knight.

10. In any surface prepared with indentations, perforations, or grooves, that part of the surface which is not so treated, as the level part of a millstone between the furrows, or the surface of the bore of a rifled gun between the grooves.

Land agent , a person employed to sell or let land, to collect rents, and to attend to other money matters connected with land. -- Land boat , a vehicle on wheels propelled by sails. -- Land blink , a peculiar atmospheric brightness seen from sea over distant snow-covered land in arctic regions. See Ice blink . -- Land breeze . See under Breeze . -- Land chain . See Gunter's chain . -- Land crab (Zoology) , any one of various species of crabs which live much on the land, and resort to the water chiefly for the purpose of breeding. They are abundant in the West Indies and South America. Some of them grow to a large size. -- Land fish a fish on land; a person quite out of place. Shak. -- Land force , a military force serving on land, as distinguished from a naval force. -- Land, ho! (Nautical) , a sailor's cry in announcing sight of land. -- Land ice , a field of ice adhering to the coast, in distinction from a floe. -- Land leech (Zoology) , any one of several species of blood-sucking leeches, which, in moist, tropical regions, live on land, and are often troublesome to man and beast. -- Land measure , the system of measurement used in determining the area of land; also, a table of areas used in such measurement. -- Land, or House , of bondage , in Bible history, Egypt; by extension, a place or condition of special oppression. -- Land o' cakes , Scotland. -- Land of Nod , sleep. -- Land of promise , in Bible history, Canaan: by extension, a better country or condition of which one has expectation. -- Land of steady habits , a nickname sometimes given to the State of Connecticut. -- Land office , a government office in which the entries upon, and sales of, public land are registered, and other business respecting the public lands is transacted. [ U.S.] -- Land pike . (Zoology) (a) The gray pike, or sauger. (b) The Menobranchus. -- Land service , military service as distinguished from naval service. -- Land rail . (Zoöl) (a) The crake or corncrake of Europe . See Crake . (b) An Australian rail ( Hypotænidia Phillipensis ); -- called also pectoral rail . -- Land scrip , a certificate that the purchase money for a certain portion of the public land has been paid to the officer entitled to receive it. [ U.S.] -- Land shark , a swindler of sailors on shore. [ Sailors' Cant] -- Land side (a) That side of anything in or on the sea, as of an island or ship, which is turned toward the land . (b) The side of a plow which is opposite to the moldboard and which presses against the unplowed land. -- Land snail (Zoology) , any snail which lives on land, as distinguished from the aquatic snails are Pulmonifera, and belong to the Geophila; but the operculated land snails of warm countries are Diœcia, and belong to the Tænioglossa. See Geophila , and Helix . -- Land spout , a descent of cloud and water in a conical form during the occurrence of a tornado and heavy rainfall on land. - - Land steward , a person who acts for another in the management of land, collection of rents, etc. -- Land tortoise , Land turtle (Zoology) , any tortoise that habitually lives on dry land, as the box tortoise. See Tortoise . -- Land warrant , a certificate from the Land Office, authorizing a person to assume ownership of a public land. [ U.S.] -- Land wind . Same as Land breeze (above). -- To make land (Nautical) , to sight land. To set the land , to see by the compass how the land bears from the ship. -- To shut in the land , to hide the land, as when fog, or an intervening island, obstructs the view.

Land Land transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Landed ; present participle & verbal noun Landing .] 1. To set or put on shore from a ship or other water craft; to disembark; to debark.

I 'll undertake to land them on our coast.

Shak.

2. To catch and bring to shore; to capture; as, to land a fish.

3. To set down after conveying; to cause to fall, alight, or reach; to bring to the end of a course; as, he landed the quoit near the stake; to be thrown from a horse and landed in the mud; to land one in difficulties or mistakes.

Land Land intransitive verb To go on shore from a ship or boat; to disembark; to come to the end of a course.

Land League Land League In Ireland, a combination of tenant farmers and other, organized, with Charles Stewart Parnell as president, in 1879 with a view to the reduction of farm rents and a reconstruction of the land laws. -- Land"*lea`guer noun -- Land"*lea`guism noun

The Land League , of which Machael Davitt was the founder, originated in Mayo in August, and at a Dublin in October the organization was extended to all Ireland, with Parnell as president.

Encyc. Brit.

Land of Steady Habits Land of Steady Habits Connecticut; -- a nickname alluding to the moral character of its inhabitants, implied by the rigid laws (see Blue laws ) of the early period.

Land-poor Land"-poor` adjective Pecuniarily embarrassed through owning much unprofitable land. [ Colloq.]

Landamman Lan"dam·man noun [ German Landamman ; land land, country + amimann bailiff. See Land , and Ambassador .] 1. A chief magistrate in some of the Swiss cantons.

2. The president of the diet of the Helvetic republic.

Landau Lan"dau noun [ From the town Ladau in Germany; confer French landau . See Land , Island .] A four-wheeled covered vehicle, the top of which is divided into two sections which can be let down, or thrown back, in such a manner as to make an open carriage. [ Written also landaw .]

Landaulet Lan`dau·let" noun [ Confer French landaulet , dim, of landau . See Landau .] A small landau.

Landdrost Land"drost` noun ; plural - drosten . Sometimes incorrectly Landtrost [ Dutch, from land land + drost a kind of official; akin to German truchsess .] In Cape Colony: (a) A chief magistrate in rural districts. He was replaced in 1827 by "resident magistrates." (b) The president of the Heemraad.

Landed Land"ed adjective 1. Having an estate in land.

The House of Commons must consist, for the most part, of landed men.

Addison.

2. Consisting in real estate or land; as, landed property; landed security.

Lander Land"er noun 1. One who lands, or makes a landing. "The lander in a lonely isle." Tennyson.

2. (Mining) A person who waits at the mouth of the shaft to receive the kibble of ore.

Landfall Land"fall noun 1. A sudden transference of property in land by the death of its owner.

2. (Nautical) Sighting or making land when at sea.

A good landfall (Nautical) , the sighting of land in conformity with the navigator's reckoning and expectation.

Landflood Land"flood` noun An overflowing of land by river; an inundation; a freshet. Clarendon.

Landgrave Land"grave` noun [ German landgraf ; land land + graf earl, count; confer Dutch landgraaf , French landgrave .] A German nobleman of a rank corresponding to that of an earl in England and of a count in France.

» The title was first adopted by some German counts in the twelfth century, to distinguish themselves from the inferior counts under their jurisdiction. Three of them were princes of the empire.

Landgraviate Land·gra"vi·ate noun [ Confer French landgraviat .] 1. The territory held by a landgrave.

2. The office, jurisdiction, or authority of a landgrave.

Landgravine Land"gra·vine noun [ German landgräfin ; confer Dutch landgravin .] The wife of a landgrave.

Landholder Land"hold`er noun A holder, owner, or proprietor of land. -- Land"hold`ing , noun & adjective

Landing Land"ing adjective Of, pertaining to, or used for, setting, bringing, or going, on shore.

Landing charges , charges or fees paid on goods unloaded from a vessel. -- Landing net , a small, bag-shaped net, used in fishing to take the fish from the water after being hooked. -- Landing stage , a floating platform attached at one end to a wharf in such a manner as to rise and fall with the tide, and thus facilitate passage between the wharf and a vessel lying beside the stage. -- Landing waiter , a customhouse officer who oversees the landing of goods, etc., from vessels; a landwaiter.

Landing Land"ing noun 1. A going or bringing on shore.

2. A place for landing, as from a ship, a carriage. etc.

3. (Architecture) The level part of a staircase, at the top of a flight of stairs, or connecting one flight with another.

Landing place . me as Landing , noun , 2 and 3.

Landlady Land"la`dy noun ; plural Landladies . [ Confer Landlord .] 1. A woman having real estate which she leases to a tenant or tenants.

2. The mistress of an inn or lodging house.

Landleaper Land"leap`er noun See Landlouper .

Landless Land"less adjective Having no property in land.

Landlock Land"lock` transitive verb To inclose, or nearly inclose, as a harbor or a vessel, with land.

Landlocked Land"locked` adjective 1. Inclosed, or nearly inclosed, by land.

2. (Zoology) Confined to a fresh- water lake by reason of waterfalls or dams; -- said of fishes that would naturally seek the sea, after spawning; as, the landlocked salmon.

Landloper Land"lo`per noun Same as Landlouper .

Landlord Land"lord` noun [ See Land , and Lord .] 1. The lord of a manor, or of land; the owner of land or houses which he leases to a tenant or tenants.

2. The master of an inn or of a lodging house.

Upon our arrival at the inn, my companion fetched out the jolly landlord .

Addison.

Landlordism Land"lord`ism noun The state of being a landlord; the characteristics of a landlord; specifically, in Great Britain, the relation of landlords to tenants, especially as regards leased agricultural lands. J. S. Mill.

Landlordry Land"lord`ry noun The state of a landlord. [ Obsolete]

Landlouper Land"loup`er noun [ Dutch landlooper , lit., landrunner ; land land + loopen to run. See Land , and Leap .] A vagabond; a vagrant. [ Written also landleaper and landloper .] "Bands of landloupers ." Moltey.

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