The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Lance \Lance\ (l[a^]ns), n. [OE. lance, F. lance, fr. L. lancea;
   cf. Gr. lo`gchh. Cf. 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.
      [1913 Webster]

            A braver soldier never couched lance. --Shak.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. A soldier armed with a lance; a lancer.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. (Founding) A small iron rod which suspends the core of the
      mold in casting a shell.
      [1913 Webster]

   4. (Mil.) An instrument which conveys the charge of a piece
      of ordnance and forces it home.
      [1913 Webster]

   5. (Pyrotech.) One of the small paper cases filled with
      combustible composition, which mark the outlines of a
      figure.
      [1913 Webster]

   6. (Med.) A lancet.
      [PJC]

   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.
      See also freelance, n. and a., and freelancer.

   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 (Zool.), 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.
      [1913 Webster]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

free lance
    n 1: a writer or artist who sells services to different
         employers without a long-term contract with any of them
         [syn: freelancer, freelance, free-lance, free
         lance, independent, self-employed person]

Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

138 Moby Thesaurus words for "free lance":
   adventurer, advertising writer, annalist, art critic,
   ask no favors, ask no quarter, author, authoress, belletrist,
   bibliographer, blue-collar worker, breadwinner, casual,
   casual laborer, coauthor, collaborate, collaborator, columnist,
   common laborer, compiler, compose, composer, condottiere,
   copywriter, creative writer, critic, dance critic, dash off,
   day laborer, diarist, drama critic, dramatist, editorialize,
   employee, encyclopedist, essayist, factory worker, flunky,
   formulate, free spirit, free trader, free-lance writer,
   free-lancer, freethinker, full-time worker, ghost, ghostwrite,
   ghostwriter, go it alone, gun, gunman, hand, hired gun,
   hired killer, hireling, humorist, independent, indite, inditer,
   individualist, industrial worker, isolationist, jobber, jobholder,
   knock off, knock out, laborer, laboring man, latitudinarian,
   liberal, libertarian, libertine, literary artist,
   literary craftsman, literary critic, literary man, litterateur,
   logographer, magazine writer, man of letters, menial, mercenary,
   migrant, moiler, monographer, mugwump, music critic, navvy,
   neutral, newspaperman, nonpartisan, novelettist, novelist,
   novelize, office temporary, pamphleteer, penwoman, poet, prepare,
   produce, professional killer, proletarian, prose writer, reviewer,
   roustabout, rugged individualist, salaried worker, scenario writer,
   scenarist, scenarize, scribe, scriptwriter, self-employed person,
   servant, short-story writer, soldier of fortune, stiff,
   storyteller, technical writer, temporary, third force, third world,
   throw on paper, toiler, wage earner, wage slave, wageworker,
   word painter, wordsmith, worker, workgirl, workhand, working girl,
   workingman, workingwoman, workman, write, writer