Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A subordinate officer in the armies of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun Obsolete An assistant to a corporal; a private performing the duties of a corporal; -- called also
lance corporal .
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A grade within the
rank ofprivate , either assigned asassistants tocorporals or performed the duties ofcorporals themselves. - noun A grade within the
rank ofcorporal ; also calledlance corporals .
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
From the Italian lanzia spezzata, which literally means "broken lance" or "broken spear", but which was used to denote a seasoned soldier (the broken spear being a metaphor for combat experience, where such an occurrence was likely).
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Examples
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