breaking a lance

Verb

break a lance (third-person singular simple present breaks a lance, present participle breaking a lance, simple past broke a lance, past participle broken a lance)

1. (intransitive) to take a stand, to contend [with for ‘to the benefit of’] [with in favour of ‘to the benefit of’] [with against ‘in opposition to’]
   • But over the difficult and important passage 2 Cor 12:1 10 she breaks a lance with me, and a response here may be a testimony to the seriousness with which I treat her comments.2003, Paul and the Corinthians: Studies on a Community in Conflict : Essays in Honour of Margaret Thrall, E. J. Brill, →ISBN, page 303
2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see break, a, lance.