elance

E1L1A1N1C3E1
/ɪˈlæns//ɪˈlɑːns/

verb

To throw like a lance; to hurl.

OriginFrench élancer ← Old French eslancier ← Latin ex →
UncommonScrabble 8
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Meanings

verbelance (third-person singular simple present elances, present participle elancing, simple past and past participle elanced)

present singular third person elances · participle present elancing · participle past elanced · past elanced

  1. archaictransitiveTo throw like a lance; to hurl.

    Iö! while thy unerring hand elanc'd / Another, and another dart; the people / Joyfully repeated Iö! Iö Pean! / Elance the dart, Apollo: for the ſafety, / And health of man, gracious thy mother bore thee.

    a. 1722 (date written), Matthew Prior, “The Second Hymn of Callimachus to Apollo”, in The Poetical Works of Matthew Prior […], volume I, London: […] W[illiam] Strahan, […], published 1779, →OCLC, page 338

Origin

  1. Frenchlancer“to dart, throw”
  2. Latinex
  3. Old Frencheslancier
  4. Frenchélancer
  5. Englishelance

From French élancer (Old French eslancier), from es- (Latin ex) + French lancer (“to dart, throw”), from lance.

More words from French, Old French, Latin

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Anagrams

enlaceCelena
Cite this entry
APA

elance. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/elance

MLA

“elance.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/elance. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “elance,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/elance.

Source: elance on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.