lancet
(ˈlɑːnsɪt, -æ-)
Forms: 5 lan-, lawncette, lawnset, 6 launcette, 6–8 launcet, 6– lancet.
[ad. OF. F. lancette, dim. of lance lance n.1 Cf. It. lancetta.]
† 1. a. ? A small lance, a dart. b. In whale-fishery = lance n.1 2. Obs.
| c 1420 Siege Rouen in Archæologia XXI. 52 And also lawnsetys were leyde on hey, For to schete both ferre an ney. 1752 Bond in Phil. Trans. XLVII. 430 Which the fishers observing, row up and dispatch the whale with long lancets. |
2. a. A surgical instrument of various forms usually with two edges and a point like a lance, used for bleeding, opening abscesses, etc.
| c 1440 [see lancent]. 1474 Caxton Chesse 86 He dyd his vysage to be kutte wyth a knyf and lancettis endlong and overthwart. 1530 Palsgr. 237/1 Lancet, an instrument, lancette. 1543 Traheron Vigo's Chirurg. (1586) 64 Cut the Scrophule..with a sharpe instrument, as with a launcet. 1612 Woodall Surg. Mate Wks. (1653) 18 Without question each Surgeons Mate knoweth a Launcet as well as myself. 1665 Boyle Occas. Refl. ii. iv, And calls for a Lancet, rather than a Julep. 1775 Sheridan St. Patr. Day i. i, Such an arm for a bandage, veins that seemed to invite the Lancet. 1837 W. Irving Capt. Bonneville III. 146 When they underwent the operation of the lancet, the doctor's wife and another lady were present. 1856 R. Druitt Surgeon's Vade mecum 631 The operator..pushes the lancet obliquely into the vein. |
b. Ent. (See
quot.)
| 1826 Kirby & Sp. Entomol. III. 362 Scalpella (the Lancets), a pair of instruments, usually more slender than the Cultelli, which probably enter the veins or sap-vessels, and together with them form a tube for suction. |
3. Short for
lancet-arch,
-light,
-window.
| 1848 B. Webb Continent. Ecclesiol. 45 Two stages of tall Pointed arches, and a huge lancet within each. 1864 Tennyson Aylmer's F. 622 Greenish glimmerings through the lancets. 1879 Sir G. Scott Lect. Archit. I. 296 Some gable-end with its lofty lancets shows the noble scale of the ancient church. |
4. attrib. and
Comb. a. lancet edge,
† lancet-ichthyodont;
lancet-shaped,
lancet-pointed (
cf. 4 b)
adjs.;
lancet-fish, the doctor-fish (
Acanthurus);
† lancet-loupe, a loophole for throwing darts (
cf. 1 a).
| 1875 Carpentry & Join. 52 A side filister..having a second point or *lancet edge to cut the fibres across as the work proceeds. |
| 1840 Mudie Cuvier's Anim. Kingd. (1849) 303 Acanthurus, *Lancet-fishes, have..a strong spine on each side of the tail, as sharp as a lancet, with which they inflict severe wounds. |
| 1708 Phil. Trans. XXVI. 78 The *Lancet or Mucronated Ichthyodont. |
| 1562 T. Phaer æneid ix. C c j, The Troyans..through their *launcet loupes their whirling darts do thick bestowe. |
| 1888 Century Mag. Aug. 585/1 These parts..are all in the *Lancet-Pointed (Early English) style. 1956 Nature 10 Mar. 484/1 This is then crushed to a very fine paste by means of a lancet-pointed dissecting needle. |
| 1899 J. Cagney tr. Jaksch's Clin. Diagn. vi. (ed. 4) 232 Certain *lancet-shaped bodies. |
b. Arch., as
lancet arch, one with an acutely-pointed head resembling the blade of a lancet;
lancet window a high and narrow window terminating in a lancet arch; similarly,
lancet Gothic,
lancet light,
lancet style.
| 1823 P. Nicholson Pract. Build. 587 *Lancet-arch. 1848 Rickman Archit. 50 Lancet arches..have a radius longer than the breadth of the arch. |
| 1836 Gentl. Mag. Feb. 164/2 A chapel..The style is the *lancet Gothic. |
| 1874 Parker Goth. Archit. i. iv. 131 In the transept of Salisbury Cathedral..is a good example of a window of four *lancet-lights. |
| 1849 Freeman Archit. 352 The details lose the great distinctness of the *Lancet style. |
| 1781 J. Warton Kiddington (1783) 17 Mouldings of *lancet windows. 1866 G. MacDonald Ann. Q. Neighb. ii. (1878) 20 The dusky light that came through a small lancet window. |
Hence
lanceˈteer, one who uses a lancet; a surgeon.
lanˈceted a., (of a window) having a lancet arch; (of a church) having lancet-windows.
| 1824 Examiner 8/2 A person named Mort–r, a lanceteer, residing in the same place. 1855 Whewell in Mrs. S. Douglas Life (1881) 562 Where, rich-glowing, the light streams through the lanceted window. 1864 Crowdy Ch. Choirmaster 27 A little lancetted church. |
______________________________
Add:
[4.] [a.] lancet clock, a bracket clock having a case shaped like a lancet
arch.| [1899 F. J. Britten Old Clocks & Watches 333 The ‘lancet’ case, in the form of a pointed Norman or Gothic arch, and named from its resemblance to the well-known cutting instrument used by surgeons.] 1922 Ibid. (ed. 5) 815/2 (Index), *Lancet clocks. 1973 A. Bird Eng. House Clocks: 1600–1850 xi. 219 The antique trade name for this style is ‘lancet clock’, and they appear nearly always to have been black. |